Teen Titans: When Armies Collide
by DFX2K9
Summary: The Titans witness an invasion of Earth by a powerful alien army. When yet another large empire gets involved, will Earth become a war zone? How did Blackfire end up involved, and can she, or her new ally, be trusted? includes: gore, language, lemon. R
1. Second Chancesof a sort

_:prologue: Second Chances-of a sort_

_DISCLAIMER: I OWN NEITHER THE TITANS, OR THE NAME LEGION FREE CORPS (Name came from the Shananra books, by Terry Brookes,what can I say, it sounded Cool)_

_Notes: just so no one is confused, this being my first fic here, and I have not been writing fan fiction for almost a year and a half now, the beginning seems a bit pathetic. This should serve as a guide to the story's premise_

_Timeline-_

_This fic takes place about 2 days after Starfire banishes her sister from Tameran. Blackfire, mow homeless, wanders on to a nearby ship, looking for a free ride. And she gets the attention of some of the crew, who are not you run of the mill spacers….and will pick a few spots along to the present day to see how being conscripted into the army, in exchange for her life, changes her personality._

_Along the way, this will also touch on some of her service time, showing that war is a terrible thing. I also tried to capture the "brotherhood" that is military service, emphasis being on "Tried". Also got a lot of inspiration from Black Hawk Down and Saving Private Ryan._

_Groups:_

_LFC: Large Inter-Galactic military empire, with a territory spanning to a mere 2,000,000 LY of Earth. Some of earths culture invaded though radio and TV transmissions, and humans, who where imported by a few other species that thought they would be useful. Now the third most common species in the LFC. With mind-bogglingly advanced technology, travel to other galaxies is nothing special. It boastes a sort of military republic, with officers elected by the troops they command, as well as those of their rank. Only military, or retired from such can vote. But all citizen share equal access for everything else._

_Skill-User (or Skill Warrior): Humans (mostly male) who have found a way to master a chi-like energy to boost their strength and speed. Some can even use the energy directly in the form of powerful attacks, though harnessing this much voltage has a drawback, Skill-user can harm normal humans with the energy they wield, making the life of a Skill-user a VERY lonely one (think Rouge from X-men to get an idea, except that the victim gets cooked from it instead.). Some species can withstand it, thus inter-species marriages have no stigma that normal humans would have to face. Powers work something like a mix of Raven, and a Jedi, kinda. Because of the drain, and collateral damage, Skill users do not make a habit of using those more potent techniques often. Because of the training and dedication it takes to be a Skill-user, they tend to have small governments of their own, called "Houses", along with any distant relatives. _

_Commonwealth (Commie, slur): Rebel faction, has been actively fighting the LFC for close to five centuries, now driving both nations into their death throws. This government was made up primarily of worlds that disliked the LFC's strict trade laws, and a few that defected to their cause later. They prefer hiding in civilian areas, or out of the way worlds, and let the Bigger LFC to come to them. No code of justice for their forces to speak of, and armies ore know to pillage entire worlds that have no tactical use whatsoever. It is these folks who get Blackfire and her Skill user friend to come to earth in the first place._

_Done with the boring stuff, now on to stuff somewhat less boring!, yay!_

_(PS, the beating B gets in here was supposed to be worse, a lot worse, but I decided to keep it tame, I'm a wimp)_

_--_

_-ship __Vanquish_: 12 hours outside Tamaran, 1245 hours Local Time- 3 ½ years ago

In the absolute silence of space, a true mammoth among starships sails under full power, heading home after a initial long distance scan of a planet thought to be a good prospect ally for the Legion Free Corps. The LFC, as it was known, was being sapped for resources by the latest barrage of boarder attacks, and thought new allies might be found in this region,. It was decided, however, that this world lacked the manpower and resources to be worth the exceptional distance to get there. Without ceremony or care, the crew raced home, but not before having some sport in dealing with a problem….a stowaway. If there was one thing not be doing on a military vessel for the LFC, it was sneaking aboard. That was even more true when this ship was home to so-called _skill-users, _the oddly-named practitioners of the Legions' deadliest technique.

Blackfire cursed as she slammed into a bulkhead with a crash, denting the metal into the shape of her skull. She shook off the impact just in time to see the assailant, and three of his friends circle, they looked dully surprised at her resilience, one by one they tried to attack her, but Blackfire simply floated backwards out of the way, down the hall, and hopefully, an airlock.

One of the men grabbed his gloved hand, and with a yank, tore the black gauntlet off. He stepped toward Blackfire with a look more of curiosity than malice, and cocked his head like a puppy. "I wonder if I can touch her…"

"Corporal, if you burn her, the captain will be pissed, she cute, sure, but not worth a trip out the 'lock without a suit, or maybe even without your head" another of them warned.

"She was in space, give me a break!" he shouted.

Blackfire had been moving steadily in reverse, not wanting to take her eyes of the weird crewman, and for some reason she could not point to, she kept her mouth shut. When the youngest, the one with the wish to end his life by touching her slipped into a shadow and vanished, she shot a look around.

"Ha! Hooray for Shadows!" he said, holding her hand in a vice grip that quickly caused surprisingly severe pain, considering how small this kid was.

Blackfire had long had enough of this, and charged a Starbolt in the hand the idiot was holding, making him let go with a shocked cry of pain. She added to that by swiftly kicking him in the groin, and throwing him right at his more cautious shipmates. She turned and bolted down a corridor, if only to find a more defensible position, and came to a large room filled with crates, and other stores.

"Don't even think of touching me again, and maybe I won't kill all of you!" Blackfire yelled back at them as they caught up

"lookie, lookie, no burns, guys, yall game, the cap's goanna put a round in her skull when he finds out anyway, we should play wither her first!" The one-gloved one said, with that he pulled his other glove off

The others looked at her like a piece of meat, and in unison went "Game!"

Blackfire managed to knock down the first one with side kick to the face, and followed suit with a flurry of kicks and punches to another, who just laughed at her, and hit her so hard she saw stars, and sent her against a bunch of crates , making quite a racket (and a mess) in the process. The Tameranian shot left out of the way of the third and fourth man. Blackfire then saw a small _ship _get swung at her, but not in time to stop herself from being launched into the air.

"this isn't really slowin' 'er down much, lets try some of those new powers we learned!"

"You know that'll set off the alarms, dumb-ass! This shit will too, just grab her and take her in, I am getting bored!"

Blackfire had no intent on going peacefully, and grabbed a metal rod, brandishing her improvised weapon at the four crewmen now circling her. At an unspoken "GO!" all charged at her, with fists drawn. She fought off one, only to be swarmed, hit, and/or thrown by one of the others, when she hit one of them in the gut with her knee, he double over in pain. The strongest wasn't so easy, simply smiling through star bolts, eye-lasers, kicks and punches as fast as she could throw them.

"Ok, now i am pissed……_you will pay for insulting me…._" The youngest said, and with that , he drew a small pistol from it's holster on his side.

Blackfire had no desire to be shot today, amongst other things, so she got one of her other new "friends", to step in, well throw himself in. With an odd "Plink" sound, the little gun discharged a single round through the human shield, tearing a nice sized hole though his back. _Note to self: get that gun before he can shoot it in your ass a few times_, Blackfire noted to herself. With a leap she dodged sidewise away from 2 of the men, and dodged a stream of rounds fired from the first man's gun. _fully automatic!? This is not turning out to be my day…._

After another five minutes of gun dodging, and beating, Blackfire was feeling weak. With no sunlight coming in from outside, she was running low on reserves, and started to take longer to recover then she really wanted. The real problems started though, when she was hit with a ricochet from the blasted gun-toting corporal. Pain shot through her leg, and she looked at the wound to see bone sticking out at an ugly angle. With that Blackfire could no longer muster flight, and fell to her knees, she had energy for a few well placed star bolts to the gun before it finisher her off. With evil smiles the three surviving assailants moved in to do that manually

Alexander walked though the halls to the back storage area of the ship when the silent intruder alarm when off, but when he heard a freelancer go off, he took of to cover as much distance in this cursed crate of a starship as possible, knowing that any crew who died would be his sole responsibility, as he was in charge of security of this area of the ship.

What he found however was brutality unbecoming of LFC citizens, let alone any of his Skill-users. He did see one dead, by gunshot, as the damage suggested, and three others kicking something in a huge puddle of blood.

"Stand down, what the fuck is going on!?"

The three turned around, with obvious wounds. "Stowaway, sir, she got Kevin, sir!"

He looked them up and down, and then at their fallen comrade. Pulling his pocket scanner, he noted that Derek's gun was missing all but 15 rounds, one being registered in Kevin, the others whipped all over the place…

"Looks like YOU shot him, and if that was an accident, then that means you where not following procedure. If this poor little thing gave you morons so much trouble, then why didn't you call it the fuck in?…… Answer me, _now!_"

The men shifted about having been caught in doing something worse than stowaway had done, far worse, in fact. Torturing a prisoner was a crime punishable by death on discovery. In this case, that meant now. They looked at the CO with big, scared eyes, and stood still, already summing up their fates. Two of them looked at the gun carrying one, and tried to place blame on him, he wisely, or bravely, kept his mouth clamped

"Derek, since you are the only one not casting blame, you may take the easy way out…." he said

Derek got the picture, and used his own gun as his jury. The others tried to run in fear, but made it only ten feet before being blown apart by one of their CO's Freelancers

He looked down at the woman they had been beating, who to his shock, was still alive, he knelt down in her own blood, and lifted her head slightly, so he could look into her half glazed, but still brilliantly violet eyes, eyes that unnerved him for some reason.

"Tell me your name, Stowaway"

"B-B-Blackfire" she weakly coughed out

"Well…Blackfire, what you have done would normally warrant death, by our laws. Do you understand this?"

She nodded, having come to terms with death about 20 minuets earlier

"I can help you, but in return, you must help me, do you understand?"

Another nod.

"you held off 4 Skill-users, each at least as strong as you, and yet here you are. I see such talent rarely in those I lead, and see great… potential in you. If you commit yourself to the Legion for at least 5 years, I should be able to convince the Captain to let you live. If not, then I will have no grounds for which I can save you on. That is the offer, take it or leave it."

"……..D-D-eal……"Blackfire coughed, then to add as muck validity as she could in her condition, she added , with a hiss, "…._sir…"_

_--_

_Don't kill me, have a few more chaps prewritten, so I will dump those too. (after overhauling them to fit the rules...)  
_


	2. All for One

Notes: well this happens awhile afterward , after b goes though boot camp (which might make a side story, if folks really want it)

So, she gets assigned to patrol a little ridge that the brass think isn't too hot, give the fresh troops some experience, and all. Short description wrong move. Just goes to show how important intel is

On with the show….or the written show, as it where

--

:Prologue:_ All for One_

_Dropship __Vengeance Rising_: 20 minutes to LZ Alpha Zeta 125 Romeo "Sorrow's Ridge", Alpha Centry III 0439 local time 2 years ago

Alexander Phoenix tapped the window of the dropship, trying to hide his nervousness from his Skill-Warriors. The group, fresh out of boot, needed no help to boost the jitters they where showing, at least there wouldn't be ten Commonwealth soldiers in the whole region. Alex surveyed his new platoon, looking for any who might bolt, or freeze, of something else embarrassing he did not need. As his gaze hit the rear of the troop pod, he spotted one of his few reliable certainties in life, Lieutenant Blackfire. He gave a polite nod in her direction, to which he got only a bored and irritated look in return. _She might hate my guts, but at least I can count on her to do her job, now that she is so open to persuasion… _Alex smiled at himself at how many months (and beatings) it took to get her to follow orders, but now that she did, she was a very competent soldier. Even his hardcore, by the rules dad was impressed, and that was saying something. He recalled the conversation right after she was good enough to walk, and right after, learning the basics of LFC military justice, namely disobeying orders, right there in the med bay. This though cracked a smile from him.

Blackfire saw her CO looking in her direction with that trademark smug grin on his face, and was pissed off by the sight of it, as usual. She knew he wasn't "special" per-se, so he had no excuse to have a smile now, and no one had made a joke that she could tell, she could only wonder what lonely, distinctly male thought had gotten lost, and traveled into his empty skull.

"If you are trying to render me out of uniform with your eyes, right here in this ship, you are wasting your time, Captain…" with that she added _if you even knew what a woman looked like from experience _in her own head, knowing better then to say that out loud, in a ship full of those that could not touch normal humans because of the energy the have coursing through their veins.

The group snickered, but when a few of the folks saw their esteemed leader had picked up on the undercurrent of her jibe, not a few heads turned, angry irises glowing in that manner that actually made Blackfire nervous, coming close to the last thing she might ever have seen, several times. "ok, bad joke, didn't mean it like that, guys, sorry" she placated, or tried to. These where beings one did not piss off in closed quarters.

"hmm, have to have goods to look at, lieutenant, guess that rules out you , though if, I where drunk-", Alex laughed out, being cut off by the clatter of 60 laughing men, all of which making the only female there the butt of their joke. Blackfire couldn't help but laugh, because she knew he was lying, not that laughing helped her position in the argument any. She was, at least for the moment, off the hook, and that made things easier. _I wonder how good he would be if I where out of uniform-Wat, did that just go though my head, ughhh!…_

Chance, one of the new guys noticed Blackfire cringe, and said "You okay Blackfire? you look a little green… First time in a dropship will do that too ya!"

If looks did kill, they already have a casualty, "I'm fine…Just breakfast didn't agree with me", Blackfire regretted that as soon as it came out.

"Breakfast, ma'am, or _dessert, if you know what I mean??" _Vinceant Harold mewed.

"Harold! Wanna get a ride home, shut your mouth!" Alex shouted.

"So silence is the key to getting a ride then? -"

"I want silence, private! Not more talking, silence! Don't make me tell her to have fun… killing you!" his CO boomed

With that, Blackfire looked at the loose lipped Private, who forgot how to speak and maintain eye contact, for some reason. She then looked with an almost imperceptible "thanks", to which an equally hard to detect nod came as answer from Alex. All in all, he was the only one she found herself tolerating, as much as she hated that fact. The other issue was, he _knew, and he that she knew he knew. _He had a look like _"See me nice , me not so bad, me watch your back, you LIKE me….." _on his face, or was that her own mind? sometimes, Blackfire wondered if that look was in her head, but that implied that she had originated such thoughts, and that was as likely as she getting flowers sent from Tameran with a "missing you" card. more likely, boot camp had caused some permanent damage.

Her musing on the subject was cut short by the pilot yelling for the 30 second mark, she unfastened her seat belt, and stood with the rest of the platoon,"30 seconds!" she called back, all replied indicating that everyone was ready, or as ready as new soldiers, Skill-warriors or not, could be.

The ship dropped to the ground with a thud, then the doors made about the same sound as the fell open to double as ramps. Exactly 2 seconds after the light poured in, all hell broke loose. When about half of the troops where out of the ship, an anti-armor rocket replaced them, and the blast sent Blackfire twenty feet trough the air, and she caught sight of Alex as he twisted through the smoky air to face the source of the missile, and placed one hand out in front of him, and gripped it at the wrist with the other, while falling upside - down at the ground. Black fire took a negligible fraction of a second to feel bad for the poor bastard with the launcher.

"Southern-CROSS" He yelled, and with that, his hand spit forth a blast of energy that put anything Blackfire could do to shame, the whole hillside he was pointing at met sky, and the dude with the bazooka was history

"OK, Blackfire, snap out of it, girl!" he said "you can stare later!"

That reminder snapped her out of her jealous awe, and she decided not to be out done, and started hurtling star bolts left and right as she ran for cover. _milk-run , like hell. _Blackfire grabbed the nearest gun, and ducked for cover in the same trench as the survivors of her platoon. Hiding was not her way, but she learned, for the start, that even her durable body was not much against the rail gun pistols and rifles preferred by the LFC and it's many enemies. In fact, she was quick to note, that pure energy weapons, or her Starbolts, for that matter, did not affect Skill-users (or energy shields) much, on either side. So if you need something physical, why not launch aluminum or steel nails at nearly the speed of light, and tear targets apart? Blackfire also found that, as she got used to guns, she almost preferred them, at least they weren't taxing to use. Because of her strength she could manage Skill-Warrior oriented weapons, which packed even more fun for her to play with.

She got her chance to score a few kills when several of the ambush force that took them by surprise flanked them, and she was ordered to greet the newcomers. Stuffing a fresh mag' into her assault rifle, she emptied half a clip into the group dropping most of them then and there. Blackfire dodged sidewise dodge a bolt of…. Lighting!? An enemy with Skill-user powers, or Darkskill-Users, as they were called, was dropping from a fast rope right in front of her.

"Darkskill!" she cried, but too late. A red tinted wave of lighting sent her into the air. She whirled around her AR, still flying, and lobbed a grenade into the face of her attacker, promptly removing his upper half. Two more made there way over, and Blackfire wondered where some much needed backup might be, as she started to unload into the closest Commonwealth Darkskill-user, she realized everyone near her was toast.

Blackfire was confidant, but not stupid, she darted through the already cratered battlefield back to her dropship's remains, where everyone else had fallen back to. As she ran, Blackfire grabbed another AR and dual-wielded on the oncoming force, until she heard the click of both guns going dry. She threw one and reloaded the other, continuing to backpedal, when she reached the ship she ducked behind it.

"Sir, when we get home, I am going to KILL the Intel guy, kay?" she said with mock joy

"Why, ya board, I'm sure we can find something -" Alex warned

"No I would've brought more fucking ammo!! I'm down to star bolts here, and that ain't good against the you 'Skill' types" Backfire snapped.

"Don't get all snippy at me, missy, I didn't plan this op. I just happen to be here" He shouted.

Someone shouted "Incoming!!", and pointed, before anyone could see where his hand was pointed, it got shot off. Alex called for a medic, and yelled "Blackfire, you hold the ridge, I need to call for air cover!"

"What!?" She said in shock, _did I just hear that right, hold this piece of shit ridge, with 25 newbies??_

"**Hold the ridge!!"**

"Yes Sir….."_, hello again Death, short time, no see, how's the kids……._

With his order conveyed, Alex ran to the nearest radio. _I hope she makes it, I hose they all make it… He held tears has he sprinted the 3 miles to the nearest transmit point to find it bombed, he ran another 5 to find a rear post, and requested everything they had. Transmission sent, He went for the first vehicle he could find, settling on a small single seat hover tank , and burned sky on the way back._

Blackfire had thought she knew pain when she was given Starbolts, then she knew she knew pain when those LFC thugs inadvertently beat her into accepting a deal she would not have been caught twice dead doing otherwise. But this pain was different, and much worse for reasons she was not bothering to comprehend. She had, quite foolishly, tried to knock a newbie out of the way of a lancer attack, only to shove him right into it, and get left arm burned to the bone in the process.

Now she was propped up against the side of the ship, withered metal on her left, and a human shield formed up from the 12 or so Skill users left. They refused to fall back, take cover. or do anything other then use their own armor and bodies as barriers to protect their current leader. After one of them fell she tried to get up and help defend the group but got shot again for her trouble. She was now lying on her back, unable to feel any of her limbs, but fully able to hear the chaos reigning around her. All she kept hearing was "Tango Down!", "Hit", and "Medic!" amongst the automatic weapon fire, mortars, and grenades. What lacked however, was the sound of much needed air cover.

"Orders?" said Vince, the one who, not an hour before, had said something she could not remember

.

Blackfire saw that she was one of the last still breathing, along with four others, they all seemed to be OK though. "Run, that is an order, run Now, and give me a gun…." she screamed

"We will not leave you behind!" he said.

Blackfire lost the strength to argue, and she watched in shock as the few who where still alive made the entire column halt it's advance. She wanted to thank who ever designed the dropship, now helping to keep her alive too. She could not see what was going on, as she could still not move, but she could hear just fine. Tears welled for the first time in years as she head another of her comrades fall. the three remaining offer her reassurance, despite the fear in their voices.

"G-….guess I don't get a ride after all, huh….boss…" Vick spat as he fell on her "We held the ridge! I can see the air comin in, bringing-t- fucking rain-" and with that he was gone.

The last 2 grabbed her and ran for their lives, any evidence of the sacrifices of her men went up in a smart bomb fueled Pyre that would make even the pickiest of them jump for glee in the afterlife, the whole hillside was vaporized along with over 20,000 Commonwealth troops. When they stopped carrying her, the set her down as gently as they could , one fell over, and didn't move. The other trooper said something Blackfire cannot remember without pain to this day

.

"Welcome to the LFC, ma'am, it was an honor….we held the ridge, we held the fuckin' ridge"

"What is your name, Skill-Warrior"

"C-Chris,…M-ma'am" he choked out

"I owe all of you guys my life, Chris, I will never f-forget you, Ever….. M-Might even n-name my f-firstborn after y-you, if that- bastard ever shows up from his f-fucking shopping t-trip, so I-I can g-get some!" she added with a forced smile.

Her joke had the desired effect, it made him smile as the light left his eyes. Only then had she been realized she had been holding his hand, that is when she lost what was left of her composure. Blackfire heard a whirring sound, and then shots being fired from an LFC tank, now coming close to hitting her. As the pilot leaped out and screamed "No!". The fact that her battle worn CO had found her after fighting for almost an hour did not dawn on her, not much did after she heard his voice.

--

Yay, action, got inspired by Black Hawk Down, not that anything I write comes close to the real thing…


	3. Bonds and Burdens

_Notes: this (like all fllowing chapters) will a longer chapter, as I prefer it that way_

_The rest of the titans are coming, just they are well covered buy the cannon series up untill the end of this chapter_

_A lot has happened I chose not to cover for length-purposes, but details will be drabbled into the fablic of the plot as it comes up. Once again, one of my first fanfics, and it is my first romance, period. Forgive the sappiness, unless you like sappy, then grab a spoon. ;P _

_Basically, poor Blackfire, and her CO, get moved from the ridge of the last chapter to the from lines, if the last chapter didn't give you an idea, then let me say it; There was a reason her personality whent from confidant to a bit meek, and it wasn't pretty._

_Anyways, here we go!_

_(PS, the underground city is something a bit overused maybe, but it hails from an old RP I had with some friends, so I kept it, also where I first got the idea of using LFC, even before I found out what book my friend got the name from, as he didn't remember it either)_

_--_

_:prologue: bonds and burdens_

_Millennia (house PHOENIX)Present Day 0015 hours local_

_Blackfire awoke with a jolt, sweat pouring off of her head, gasping for breath, she fought the urge to vomit. Taking ten deep breaths she shook her head to clear that memory from her mind, and went to get something to drink. Pausing only long enough to make sure she had PJ's on, as she was not the only one who'd end up awake in this house. She tried to find one of the 5 kitchens in the pitch black of night, as Millennia was entirely subterranean , when n it was dark, it was DARK. She sighed and called a star bolt to her hand to see, and found the kitchen. She killed the bolt and got a glass of water._

"_Not sleeping again Blackie" A low, quiet voice called._

"_you could say that sir, Please don't say anything to Alex, he worries over trifle things" she said softly to the Phoenix Head-of-House, and self professed night-owl, as Blackfire found out during a session like this._

"_You, my dear, are not trifle" The old man said, "If he makes feel otherwise, you have my blessings to beat him, until such time as he comes around to seeing how valuable you are"_

_She chucked, glad to hear something other than the screams of her memories for once. She would never say it, but he owed this house full of boys (her former CO's dad was a big boy, too, and didn't try to hide it) for her sanity. Alex has asked his House if they could let her have the spare room reserved for his end of the large Skill-User family. They reluctantly agreed, as a temporary arrangement while she found an apartment. Then she and Alex got called to defend several worlds to the far edge of the empire, the horrors she witnessed there over threat horrible six months brought her to the edge. Blackfire was still suffering trauma from it, as was Alex, though he was very inward about it. After it took lots of tears, and not a few stern words from the man she was now speaking with to pull her out of that slump. He even got himself a pet name for her ("Blackie"), one that no else even dared to try._

"_Can I ask something? If you don't have, or want to give an answer, 's ok, but maybe you can help." she raised her arms to exemplify her current situation._

"_I can only tell you what helped me, Blackfire….. Time, Firstly, Confronting it, secondly, I went to the battlefield that I fought on, you cannot do that yet, but it will hurt, but help when you do. But mostly, you need love, you've got plenty of that around, if you look for it……You're a good kid, glad 'ol Alex saw it in you, I, I hate to admit, probably would not have. You should ask him what made him see it, and flaunt it a bit, might make him notice, before he gets to be my age."\_

_Blackfire smiled, not knowing what to say to that , "I suppose I'd better get scooting, it's far past my curfew, I think…"_

_The house awoke, at least for a minute or two, at the laughter the punched thought the silence._

_That morning, Alex awoke to find the whole Phoenix House in a stir about something, when he meandered down to the main hall, over 150 of those bearing The Phoenix surname where clamoring about, in typical fashion, stuff was being broken. He saw a group of his close relatives standing by the back wall._

"_what's up, got everyone pissed off to be sure, haven't seen this much action in here since Karla Stargazer wanted to marry my cousin-" He paused to duck as something, rather someone, flew over his head, "speak of the devil, hey Mike!" _

_He finally saw his father standing firm with arms wide, he was not saying a word, but was shielding somebody from the yelling and occasional skill attack. Blackfire gave Alex a pleading look From behind her shield, one or 2 she could handle, but no more, and Alex had to do some fast talking to figure out what in Sam hell had happened. __Blackfire, when will you learn not to show your face unasked, they dislike you enough…. _His protective instincts kicked in, and walked to the center of the stage.

"Hey…………………Shut……………The…………Hell………………..Up!"

The room stopped, dozen's of eyes glowed at him.

" Anyone care to explain what is up with you people, and why are you yelling at my girlfreind" _oh fuck, That didn't mean to come out….._ He stole a look back for the verdict from the 2 person jury behind him, no guilty-ness evident, at least, not now. _great now you've done it, Alex, now look at them, she'll get kicked out for sure, along with you, cuz' they'll have an excuse. _

His dad and…_girlfriend _walked to his side and he could just see Blackfire's face, and he saw no emotion from it

"Alexander, we have gone over that! Do we need to remind out of that conversation-"someone said, Blackfire took the opportunity to shoot him look

"NO!……you don't" he sighed

"She isn't even a Citizen! That may not be LFC law, having to be first, but you are a-"

"Shut up." Alex said coldly, "could've recorded that whole line of crap, and it would have more interesting, and what dose this have to do with anything? I know yall don't get up this early just for Blackfire, dislike her or not; Not even a Government sanction got YOUR ass outta bed!"

"She had to gall to call one of my sons rude! And he did nothing to her!"

Now this was goanna get interesting, but Alex was used to interesting, when it came to these people…

"Blackfire, what exactly did he do?" Alex asked in as level a tone as he could manage, trying to sound like he was impartial, which was far from the truth.

"He grouped me, so I called him on it, and when he got pompous about it, I called him rude…"

"Did you knock him on his ass?"

"….No!…."

"You should have…. I would like to mention that, according to LFC law, that can construed as sexual assault, maybe even attempted rape, soooooo-"

"She can't charge me, she isn't a Citizen!" the jerk finally piped up, father looking on proudly, some of the family where not happy with that remark, or the pride both of them showed with it.

"Obviously you are a professional at this, so let me remind you that I happen to have her transit contract, ya know the part where she's got to serve under my unit for at least five years, that means that since I am the reason she ain't a Cit' yet, I can, and incidentally Will charge you for it on her behalf!"

He watched with sick pleasure as the blood drained from their faces, "So is this what this whole shout-shit-fight is about? If so, let me call a judge down here, and will just get this settled, Now!" he looked over at Blackfire for reassurance

.

"Hey, Alexander, do you, like, need her permission for _everything, or are you just scared?" _that same kid, who Alex was too pissed to remember the name at the moment, dripped out with enough innuendo, it also happened to hit a sore spot, a "weakness" as it where, Alexander was know to be shy that way, and most (even B), knew never to touch the subject, ever. A few of the females in the group winced, knowing their status (because of their rarity) made them thing to be protected at all cost. This idiot was in trouble.

"Listen to me, _boy_, I will let that insult slide, considering what you will go through in jail, but if you speak again, I will ask for rights to kill you, on the spot, when you are sentenced, then have you're whole family expelled from this house, and shoved on the nearest transport the uranium mines on Angola VII" Alex practically hissed

"where's that? "Blackfire asked

"A very bad place" Steven whispered, "let's leave it at that"

The yelling continued for the rest of the day, and, as Steven told Blackfire though her door, her "Boyfriend" made good on his promise. She sighed, having had one of the strangest days of her life. Blackfire wondered why he called her his "Girlfriend". That was not a word choice she heard him say more than once before, in a conversation she overheard with his father, apparently asking permission, or his blessing, or whatever. She did not listen to anymore at the time, but now wish she had. Blackfire did resolve herself to find out EXACTLY what he intended by that statement. If he was serious, she wasn't sure yet if she was OK with that idea. Alexander Phoenix was not one to tie with on a whim. He was popular in this House, and in the surrounding city, that could make things good for her, and bad, too. She also came to the conclusion that if he did care for her, he was being a bit stealthy about it, a few signs over the years, but nothing more. And then, Blackfire wondered if she even wanted that kind of relationship, she had honestly written it off many years ago, but, as she was quick to point out to herself, times and people can change.

She remembered, for example, how low she used to place the LFC on her list of cares. When Sorrow Ridge happened, it was the first she noticed, and respected other's sacrifice on her behalf. That lesson hit her at the perfect time, by the she hit on her second tour (which she tried not to think about), she felt invested a little in the mission at hand, and the people under and alongside, her. At the first siege of Aquarius IXV c, she found herself caring for the LFC a lot more then she would have during boot camp. _that person would not recognize me at all…. _The part that still hurt so was that most of the death she witnessed was either to protect her, or wasted in foolish advances accomplishing nothing.

Blackfire wondered where she would be now, if she hadn't snuck a ride on the Vanquish after her exile. She had a suspicion that she might still be in prison, or running from such. The though made her think of her sister, Starfire, for the first time in a long while. _I wonder what she's up to, Probably got Robin wrapped around her little finger by know, hell, maybe a few kids, at the rate they where going….._

"Hey, can I come in?" Alex's weary-sounding voice called

The moment B was dreading, "Yeah, give me a minute, Alex". Blackfire comber her hands in her hair for a second, not sure what to do, then unlocked the door, and opened it a bit to look at his face before letting him in. As she stepped back , the door slid open the rest of the way, and Alex stepped in with an amount of caution. No one, to his knowledge, had ever been allowed in here since she moved in, save perhaps his father, and even then, he doubted it.

"B, I wanted to apologize to you for my idiot relatives, they can be immature, as you know by know…….and for referring to you as my girlfriend, without thinking to consult you, of all people, first." he said

"Is that what I really am to you1? If so, your damn right!……" She snapped, then sighed, "I am not angry at you per-se, but you , _as my "Boyfriend" _then, should be able to remember the basics about me, like 'My love sure dose like to be kept in the loop, dose she?…. And I have no problem with it either, if you're wondering. But, I NEED to know there is a helluva lot more to us then a shared, unpleasant past, and a mutually beneficial agreement from ages ago.". Blackfire would not play around with this sort of thing, so she said, "That question is to be rhetorical for today, I don't want the first thing popped into your mind"

"Fair, enough, Blackfire… See you tomorrow then…" Alex would've noticed that there where pictures around of him and his, had he been able to look up from the floor. _this might not end well…. _He got up, and went straight for the door.

"Alex?…"

"Yeah?"

"When we first met, what in Legions name did you see in me?"

Alex turned, "Something in your eyes, I guess, saw a good person, don't ask me to explain, I don't know it fully myself, B"

"Do you realize what kinda past I left behind?" Blackfire said frankly, "Please don't forget that. When we you think about _us._" it sounded odd to say that word in that context.

"You have told me enough, over the years, Blackfire, for me to know there will be some regrets you might take to your grave, but don't ever think I see you as anything less then you are _now"_

_Blackfire nodded silently, "Thanks"_

"_See ya later." he said as he left._

_Blackfire had a lot to mull over for the rest of the day_

_--_

_Yay what do you all think about it so far, this is that lat chapter that doesn't have the rest of the titans in it_


	4. Invasion

:chapter 1: Invaision

First chapter that has the teen titans in it, and more newbie sappy romance

Nuff said, hope yall enjoy

--

Titan Tower, Earth 0730 local time

Robin watched the TV set with an odd fascination, Earth was in a momentous time right now, having met the first galactic empire to make itself known, The Commonwealth, as they called themselves. The negations where not going too well, and it looked as if Earth would soon be facing invasion if they did not meet the lofty demands of the Commonwealth. Robin scratched his head in frustration, turned off the TV, and looked for Starfire.

"Star! Where are ya honey1?" he yelled, looking at the nearly empty tower

"Over here" She called, "I am trying to See if I can get Galfore on the phone, he might be able to help us"

"Sweetie, you know where I stand on that, I don't want to see Tameran destroyed-" Robin began to say.

"And I don't want to see earth destroyed either! If we can get help, then it is our responsibility to do so, not waste lives on pride." Starfire blurted out, "Tameran will not be directly involved, But they have occasional dealings with an empire not too far from there. This empire is called The Legion Free something…. They are at war with the very Commonwealth we are dealing with now, maybe Galfore knows who to get in touch with them!"

"And bring their battle to a whole new planet, Our Own!?" Robin shouted "And what is to say the 'Legion' isn't as bad, or worse, then these guys!?"

"What is _your _plan, my love??" Star snapped.

Robin knew he had lost that argument, "Fine, just make sure I am there if or when we talk to these guys."

"Whatever, yeah, no problem" She hissed.

Cy walked over to Robin, and snorted, "Are you two still arguing?"

"Is that any of you business, Cyborg?' Starfire said almost casually.

Cy left that unanswered, if Star was mad enough to put him, or Robin, for that matter, in his place, then he wanted nothing to do with it. Beast Boy saw the whole argument, and vanished as the smallest creature he could think of. Raven even kept her distance.

"Fine, will see what they have to say, at least" Robin said.

Starfire couldn't help but smile, seeing the defeated Robin lower his head, exasperated. She hated to not let him have his way, but he could be an ass at times, now was one of them. Looking at her other friends, she went to call Galfore. Starfire learned that the LFC only came out that far with a reason, so it would take a few weeks to see if they even wanted to get involved.

The negotiations had to take several days, because of the distance, and the three way nature of it. The LFC reluctantly agreed to send two seasoned operatives. Ones specialized in fighting insane odds, the only thing standing in the way was payment, the LFC would not, no matter how much it loathed is enemy, do this for free, eventually, Robin came to a suitable agreement, paying almost all of his personal savings, close to quarter of a million, for their services, plus another 20,000 for each Skill-user captured, or terminated while there. They would follow orders, but the safety of the Legion would be primary. If they threat was major, one would get within transmission range and call for fleet support. Robin was not happy with this at all, but he resigned himself to wondering what he would get for his money.

Millennia - 3 weeks later 1905 hours local time

"Hey Alex, you've got a tasking order" Blackfire said, "…..It looks like….Earth!?"

"Neat! been there once, have you, sweetheart?" Alex asked, slipping up and calling her a pet name in public.

"…Alex, what did we just discuss PET NAMES not five minuets ago?"

"C'mon, the only one listening is dad, and he don't care, in fact…" He looked to his father for some help here, as he was trying to open her up to more outward acknowledgement of their relationship, while Blackfire was content to keep… low about it. "…I think he likes _us._"

"I do, very much." but evilly smiling at his adopted 'daughter', said, "But, I also like to see your girl happy, and if that means no pet names where my old ears can hear, then don't use them."

Alexander Phoenix let out a sigh. _Thanks, old goat! Thanks for everything….. _"what do they want us to go break"

"Oddly, nothing, we are to engage in surveillance of a Commonwealth 'assimilation'. If anything the bastards do warrants LFC involvement, we give a ring to the fleet, and they come kick Commie ass"

"Sounds fun, H-Blackfire….sorry"

B just giggled, _giggled, at him!_ "Look Mr. Phoenix, I have you son well trained already!, HAHAHA!"

Alex figured hearing her laugh was worth it, Blackfire laughed rarely, and he relished every snicker, chuckle, or giggle he could get. He signed in mock shame "Am I permitted to speak now, Master Blackfire, love of my life??"

"Yes." She said with a smile

"If I go, can I get one of those new Micro-Jets? You can fly, but you only have one good Starbolt arm, if you carry me"

Alex's father piped in "those are expensive, son, why not just a normal jetpack?"

" Cuz those can't break the sound barrier, or a starfighter, for that matter… Plus she can ride on my back if she is tired, or hurt, or something, not saying that will happen, but"

"I'll see what I can do… What about transport there, though? Commies got it locked down with AD towers."

" Make a full cloak ingress, the HALO in at the nearest water source , then walk or waste money on some other expensive local vehicle" Blackfire said, notching her mouth up a tiny bit to get a rise out of Alex, his parent , or better yet, both.

"HALO jumping, fun stuff, that, do we 'chute down the last bit, or would you catch me"

"Parachute, pitch dark, and we'll have black uniforms on"

"Good point, when do we leave?" Alex said.

Steven nodded , "A week, if I read this right, then to Tamaran to wait for the ship you will be taking to fuel, then to Earth."

"Problem, I was banished from Tamaran, Steve….." Blackfire said.

"We will get that covered, if nothing else, you can hide in the ship, we did not tell who we where sending apparently, we will have another pair for them to see, that look similar, but not exactly like you."

"Oh, I see….. Since this will be covert, can I get one of those cool Skill-blades, not can I can call on Skill, but just to fake out one of 'em who can if I need to" Blackfire said, her turn to beg.

"That, I can help you with, I have a spare blade you can borrow, just bring it back, if you don't mind." Steve conceded, noting that as far as 'toys' go, she was far more practical than her male counterpart.

"HEY, we'll match!" Alex added unproductively, "We will have to spend the week practicing, then, if you flash steel, the other guy is honor-bound, no matter who you are dueling with, to fight with steel, or powers."

"I didn't know that, and seeing as I love swords, I might find something to do with you more than once!" She said, and with that flew out

"Not the only thing you would like doing with me more than once, baby…" Alex muttered, more for his fathers amusement than anything, as Alex could actually imagine backing up the statement.

"I heard that, Alexander!!" came from B's mouth as she reentered

"Busted, leaving, Ta Ta, pops!"

One week later…

The Teen Titans sat on the roof of the tower, having been told that the two agents where on there way. Expecting a ship, the had lights out and all, and where searching for the newcomers trying to not look conspicuous to the Commie Patrols searching for any resistance. What they saw however, shocked them, these two might just be the best, all that was visible where two little black dots hurting to the sea below, with apparently no parachutes.

"2, this is 1, no powers, LZ is lighted, welcome back home." Alex called though his radio

"Permission to jet-surf?" Blackfire called over "no powers equals no breaks for me…"

"ROGER! Enjoy the ride!" Alex said, "… MICRO-JET, ENGAGE!'

_**Engaging now, warning, danger, Altitude, danger, Altitude!**_

The young adults one the roof gasped as they saw the pair fall, and Star was fighting a losing battle with herself, trying not to lift off after them. One of them seemed to…change…into a tiny delta-winged fighter plane, and as the plane-man pulled up, the other landed gracefully on his/it's back. She (on could tell from this rapidly closing distance) "skateboarded" on the back of this thing until the ship started to slow down over the tower's roof. As soon as she back flipped off of the little plane, it folded into a good sized backpack, revealing the psycho crazy enough to fly it. He flipped forward, landing on the roof, with metallic thud.

"2, let me do the talking for a bit, kay?" the pilot said in private comms

"Yeah, thanks" Blackfire said, already regretting this

Alex pushed a button on the inside of his helmet, and the faceplate, and pitch black visor retracted allowing his azure eyes, now glowing, to show on all of the Titans, who have never seen an iris-glow other than red. He un-strapped his helmet and removed it, letting his brown hair to flop around in the wind, as much as it's short length would allow. Alex saluted, saying "Captain Alexander Russell Phoenix, Skill-Warrior, LFC First Fleet… Titans, right? We are the advisors you requested. Believe me, I saw the mess on the way in, and I plan to call the fleet. This Is bad, but I got to get some data first, so, here we are."

"I'm Robin, this is Starfire, Raven, Cyborg, and Beast Boy." Robin introduced, "Who is she, I'm impressed with the acrobatics"

"She is on her first covert op, so I can't give her identify just yet, as you saw, her competence is nothing you should worry about" Alex said, and hoping to get B off of the hook for now, "So what is the situation down here anyway, and how did you know about us, too that might help figuring out what channels to check first"

After all but Raven and "2" had entered the building, Raven said "Star will be pissed when she sees you, but since I sense I don't know the whole story, I will keep silent, for now."

Blackfire knew the shit had just hit the fan. "I don't expect that you'd believe me, but I have changed considerably since we last spoke…"

Raven just shook her head

In the main hall Alex was already in a fight with someone, Beast boy, who had taken to annoying him into slapping the changeling around a bit, "See the light in my eyes NOW, this is annoyance, you won't ever see anger, trust me… and that sword is an energy focus, touching it is fatal to normal humans, and a little wimp like you would probably make a nice green stain all over the living room"

"I'm not a wimp!" BB said angrily

"BB, if you want to sleep on the couch, keep talkin'!" Raven said, with some force behind 'couch'

"OK, sorry, Rae"

Alex Sneered "R-Raven is it? Now adding you to my short list of true friends, I was on the way to turning him into a shape shifting rug, to be sure."

"If you know how, I will pay you good-"

"RAE, C'mon honey!"

Robin just laughed.

_good to see the crew in good spirits , they won't be for long, I can hide now, though I need to eat, eventually…. _Blackfire asked were the restrooms where through her helmets' voice morphed speaker.

"Over there, miss" Robin said, faintly recognizing the voice, but dismissing his first guess as way out there almost immediately.

Blackfire found a stall, and yanked her helmet off, and finally got to do her business. She felt her blood freeze as a pair of pink boots walk right past her stall and over to the shower. Blackfire drew a breath, and pulled her helmet on, stuffing her long hair into it, as soon as she got herself together, she pulled the handle on the toilet, hoping that wouldn't send her sis out screaming. Fortunately for her, it did not, and like a scared ninja with loot, B kicked in the cloaking device, and bolted out.

As she was leaving the bathroom, she creamed Raven, and lost cloak immediately.

"watch were you are going, B-Bitch!" Raven shouted

Blackfire was actually _happy _to be called that, as that was a lot better then her name, with a confused Starfire in a towel going "You should pay attention more, before just pulling handles, you know, course you might not have known…. If you did not, I am sorry" _simply taking a shit is not supposed to be the complicated, or dangerous._

Alex walked into the hall with just enough time to see a towel-sporting read head entering the restroom, a helmeted B practically blushing though said helmet. He knew what had happened and cursed himself for missing it all.

Raven walked up, and said in a deathly quiet voice…

"_listen, I am an empath, I KNOW who she is , do you?"_

"Yes, someone who has saved my life, 3 times to be exact…" Alex said , and added in a low, menacing tone, "We reached an agreement that got her under my command, she has never failed, not once, she would give her life for anyone, Private, General, or Civilian alike. I've almost seen her lose that much, many times. We do her a disservice talking behind her back, so I will not speak more of this"

Raven went silent, the soldier having answered more questions then he knew. Raven found herself feeling bad for Blackfire, knowing that she went though hell in the years since her Sister exiled her from Tameran. Blackfire would be in her mid twenties by now but her aura seemed about fifty. She also sensed feelings for the man she was with, and that surprised her a little, but not much, he was protective, and she needed that right now.

Blackfire watched the discussion from the living room, and was glad she had Alex for support, though she still regretted taking on the mission.. He plopped down net to her, helmet on his head, but face mask and visor open. He still had the big box of a Micro-Jet on his back, and looked uncomfortable, but trying to hide it.

"Sit forwards for a sec, sir" B said, and when he complied, she unsnapped the stubborn latches on the jetpack

"Thanks, blasted latch was stuck, and I didn't like looking like an idiot asking for help"

"Wasn't a thing, sir" _men….._

Robin, Cyborg, Star, and BB all came in with look to kill on their faces. Raven followed suit a few seconds later looking guilty as ever, Alex briefly calculated tactical options, and began to slowly charged up just below his eyes obviously glowing for the juice in his veins.

"Alex, there is something, _someone, _that needs cleared up" Starfire said with venom in her voice, holding dark hair strand in her hand, violet sheen coming from it in the light. "Blackfire… take that helmet off, NOW!"

B slowly stood, dreading this moment, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you Star, I just couldn't-"

"DO IT!" Starfire spit, her eyes green with rage "you dare show your face here!?"

Blackfire opened and pulled off her helmet the rest of the identifying mane that Star was till holding a piece of spilled onto her back, the to look each other up an down for a second, as Star closed in, she took flight. Hovering a full head height over her older sister, Starfire simply began to unload on her. "Love, just stay where you are, I deserve this…" Blackfire whimpered over Star's ranting.

BB and Cy just looked dumbly in the ladies' direction. Raven was actually having no luck even getting close to Star. Robin just looked at Alex, with a look that need no explanation. His Starfire did not like her sister, and Robin did not him by proxy.

Then Starfire made three mistakes, she infringed on her love of him, and said she was selfish, and insulted her worth as a person, all in the same 2 seconds, not good

"Blackfire! You worthless, spoiled, self-absorbed…BITCH! You even got this guy to fall-"

Alex had only heard the first part, and moved quicker the Robin, and slugged The young woman with all of his might, who did not fly, but was launched into the kitchen counters with a mighty crash. Robin began running over to her as she stumbled into the living room again, dazed, but still mad.

"Alexander!! For God's sake I can take care of myself! My relationship with my sister has been poor enough without you help!… If you hit her again, I will shoot you, do I make myself clear!? You do not know all that I have done to her! I might have proven my worth in your eyes, and I am happy to have even more proof of that! I still have to prove myself to my sister, however, on my own, OK!?… In fact, get your blasted jet and buzz off, Alex. I am very upset with you right at the moment, And I don't want to say anything I might regret later…" Blackfire changed her mind as she walked over to Starfire, who was grabbing her head, with Robin trying to inspect her. "Alexander, stop right where you stand, right now!…Star, let me see"

The green eyed girl just shook her head, whimpering. Blackfire already knew what was wrong, and was trying to not just walk over, and end her first serious relationship with a gun…. "Please, Sis, Let me see, I won't hurt you, Robin won't let me, I'd bet"

When Starfire moved her hand finally, Blackfire looked at Robin "Robin there is a med pack on my belt, give that to me, please, will get this fixed up in no time, Star, kay? … and take my gun too, please, I was given a second chance when he found me, so I want to give him one, this once, mind you.."

Robin did as he was asked , and he looked at the man still standing exactly where he was, his face white with fear, enough to indicate that he did not realize how fucking _hard_ he actually hit her. "Is she okay", Robin asked

"I'm F-Fine, my love……..Thank you, Blackfire, I am sorry for yelling at you like that_._"

Blackfire said in forced-happy voice " Not a problem Star. Good ol' Medi-Foam, saved that asshole over there more than once", then she added ,in a much less jovial tone "You may breath now, Alex. But please remain silent, and leave me alone for awhile."

Alex risked getting a round in his foot, but he felt he had to say it, "Sorry, ma'am, I didn't think about that before I did it-"

Star interrupted B's glare at being defied, "I accept you 're apology ….Alex? Or is it Alexander? Anyway, I have a protective boyfriend, also… Robin would have reacted in a similar manner"

Robins face had an amazed look, but he offered no argument, problem was, she was right.

"True, I guess, wait, I'm not too protective, am I?" He asked.

"Only on occasion…." she said with a smile, "on occasion'

By now BB had begun pestering "Blazin' B", and at the hearing of the name, Alex filed that in to his memory of pet names, if he ever got to use one again. His colossal screw-up put him into a down and rueful mood, so he decided to go do some mission related joyriding.

Grabbing his helmet, he quietly slipped out just as the group was discussing food. _better let her bond with her family without my help…. _he headed to the roof to launch for the sky, with a roar the jet unfolded around him, and he hurtled through controlled airspace, looking for enemy forces to shadow. Kicking in the radio, he switched it to FM scan mode, and selected a decent station to listen to for a while. Jump had a lot of action. so he was quite occupied, until the bingo fuel light got his attention. He half-glided back to the tower, but tried to stay in the air for awhile longer, not sure what to do, as it was about 0330, and everyone would have to be asleep by now .

He did for this (tolerating the "Bitching Betty" in his helmet reminding him of what laws of gravity he would be subject to soon) for about fifteen minutes, when his radar picked up something behind him. He could not slow down, as he had no gas to recover the momentum, and he could not see what wasn't almost in front of him. The "object" came into view, and Starfire regarded him as she flew backwards, she pointed at the ground, and he just shook his head, still having a minute or 2 of charge in the little plane. When the engines sputtered, she took matters into her own hands, and drug him right out of the sky. When she set him down, he retracted the airframe into jetpack configuration, sitting on his hands and knees.

"I was fine, Ma'am! Oh God, did your sister send you?" Alex moaned

"No, Blackfire went to sleep, upset because you did not come back. She regretted being that harsh on you, since she did not go into detail of…. our relationship before she joined your Legion. She will be worried if you don't come back…. Now that I've spent some time with her, she seems so different than the Blackfire I knew. So much more caring, but a bit _insecure_, too… Can I ask how you came to know her?" Star said, curious how this pair got into existence.

"Oh sorry to make her upset, I try not to do that, failed tonight , but I try anyway… As far as how I meet her, I will not go into detail, because , well, _we_ are still very new, in that delicate phase, thus I refuse to violate her trust, I have done that already by attacking you, and I fear will not get a second change to repeat that mistake…" he said, "If you see her, tell her I'm fine, I just want to give her a little space…"

"Where are you going to go, it's 4 in the morning!" Star whisper-shouted, Alex now knew that that was possible.

"Don't know, I might just camp out on the roof, I cannot explain how much I don't have the strength to look her in the eyes, Starfire…." Alex sighed, he was whipped but did not want to have to face her again, seeing the hurt on her face was too much for him.

"Star, 's OK, I'll talk to him" a groggy, but still recognizable voice called into the night.

"Night sister, I hope you can get him to come down, but if you can't, just leave him, he'll come on his own. Like Robin in that way, it is almost humorous…"

"No, Star, Robin got over pouting like a child, but good night….." Blackfire said, "Enough! get in here, or I will drag you in, and why do not want to talk about how me met !? You saved my life, what on Earth, Millennia, or in you dumb male brain, can be more romantic than that?"

"The saving part, fine, but how you ended up on our ship, and that we did that do you, wasn't sure how to approach the subject, like I said, 'trust', which for me includes not going over every detail without you OK first? Alex explained.

She just grabbed his hand, and drug him though the door, "can I ask you something that I've been guessing at for awhile?"

"Anything"

"are you new, I mean at this" she pointed at herself, "no shame if you are, 'cuz I am as well, as far as relationships with men I _care _about go."

"yeah, first timer…" Alex sighed, waiting for the last feelings of manliness leave him, "Just never got around to it, never found right person too, I guess"

Blackfire actually hugged him around the shoulder for once, rare, as she wasn't much for physical contact, or maybe he just never tried… "Alex, it is not your fault that you can't just go with anyone, if you are worried about your powers harming me, it won't…."

"Who told you about that!?" Alex almost shouted, "I-I….."

"Your father did, when you showed interest in me. He had me try to hold his hand while he charged up, I can take it just fine, so you don't have to keep me at arms length… sweetheart… Though, I will ask that we not suck face with you at full charge" She grinned, trying to lighten the gloom

Alex did manage a small smile, more for her benefit than his own "Gotta suck face first, though…." with that he split off from her, and walked over to the edge of the kitchen, getting a drink as an excuse to examine the damage.

Blackfire went to bed without knowing where he ended up going. When she woke up, Blackfire found the sun just peeking around the horizon, She pulled her street clothing on and went to her balcony to look at the sunrise. Her view was blocked by a pterodactyl flying for its life, being chased by a black, flame spitting Dorito Chip of an airplane on a mission. That was followed by Blackfire's own sister , with Robin on her back in the method B used to ride Alex's jet in last night . She even saw rave and Cy, Doing their best to keep up, and with that Blackfire leapt into the fray.

She caught up to raven first, "Hey, girl, What is gong on ? If it is a race, I'm in!"

"Yeah, a race to get Beast Brains, winner shoves meat down his yapper till he chokes to death!"

"WHOOHOO! He's mine!" B said as she bolted off toward one frightened dino.

Alex had no trouble keeping the creature in sight, and was beginning to consider ramming BB when his scanner lit. he jerked the stick hard left just in thing feel a Screamer missile hit the belly of the little plane below his prone midsection. Without even saying , he snapped a 180, and almost ran over his new girlfriend in the process.

"INCOMING!" Alex shouted though the loudspeakers, "BEHIND YOU!"

_**Weapons armed, select targets to attack….**_

"Titans! Go" Robin yelled, he doubted anyone heard him, for the roar of engines now descending upon them, though .

One large dropship hovered over them , and boomed "You are all under arrest, surrender now, and you will not be harmed!"

"Fuck off, dirt bag. Our planet, our airspace!" Rob said as he chucked a bird-a-rang into the intake, sending the ship into a spin.

" Sis! Catch!" Said Star, as she gave her rider a shove

"Got ya!" Blackfire said as she caught Robin by the hand

"Nice catch"

With no hindrance, Star ripped a drainage pipe off of the Tower wall, and used it like a javelin to throw into the other engine of the dropship, making careen out of control, right into the unforgiving sea. She say CY riding on the top of the Alex's Jet , and wondered how he got there briefly , she pulled along side Raven an Blackfire, making a sort of squadron . BB was nowhere to be seen, and star was worried. When Robin leapt back to her, Star asked, "Where is Beast Boy!?"

"Don't know, Raven?"

"I have no idea , Robin"

Beast boy looked down at himself, ha was lying on the ground, with something on him preventing him from changing. When cold glowing eyes look at him, he knew he was in trouble. BB dodged sidewise out of the grab of the enemy Darkskill-user, pulling the gun out of the man's holster. He had to drop it, though, as he dodged another attempt to capture him. BB kicked the face of the bad guy in front of him, making him take a single step back and return the favor. BB cried out as every rib he had broke, and he took a trip through the sky. He landed right next to the gun, and before he could second guess, BB grabbed it, and started to pull the trigger, he could hardly control it, let alone aim, but it did the trick, they backed off and took cover, but one poor soul did not move in time, first his chest exploded, followed by his head.

BB screamed as a missile from Alex, finished off the others, and he threw the breaks, changing modes to come check on BB. In a few seconds, he had BB free of the jamming device. They where common, but he wondered how they adapted it to work so universally with so many powers.

"we have a casualty!…..BB's alive, but hurt, in shell shock, too"

"OK. Can you chase off those fighters with the sisters? I got BB" Robin said over the radio

"Done, Sir!" Alex said, already watching the fighter's airframe surround him, he was beginning to worry about the batteries in this thing going dead, "I'll have to make it quick."

Starfire saw Blackfire shoot a missile right out of the sky with a Starbolt, "Thanks Sister!"

"Watch yourself next time, that is thanks enough!" _well, she hasn't completely changed….._

"Hello Ladies, am I interrupting anything?" Said the oncoming mass behind them.

"Yeah! My concentration! Odd talking little airplane." Starfire yelled back

"I am in here, I DO have a name, it happens to be-"

"Long winded!?" Blackfire said

"You would know, wouldn't you now, dear!" Alex said as he released his second missile, blowing the fighter he was chasing to bits. Continuing to pursue the other with guns blazing (he wanted to conserve the few missliss he had for the Micro-Jet).

Starfire laughed out, "Robin, will need to hear that one!… I've got him!"

And the that last fighter fell to green star bolts

"Someone……anyone……Catch Me!" Alex cried as his engines quit, _forgot the bingo fuel alarm in all of the commotion… piss!_

"Outta gas, are you?" Blackfire said as she caught him, while her sis caught Cy, "That thing has no range!"

"I noticed!" Alex said.

"We could put a little more bang in it for ya!" Cy said

"thanks, but it ain't mine, can't change anything on it….thanks though, Cyborg"

"Damn, what you could've done with a sonic cannon, and bigger reactor"

"Yeah, I know…." Alex said, almost ignoring the fact there was just a battle going on a second before. "Hey where did the others go?"

"The others most likely went back to the tower with Beast Boy" Starfire said, now allowing concern into her voice.

Alex looked over from within the bowels of the Micro-Jet. "We better head back, BB need all of the friends he can get right about now"

"Why, is he hurt bad?" Star asked

Blackfire and Cy had seen the soldier BB shot, "That ain't what he's worried about Star" Blackfire said, looking briefly Alex at to convey that the guy had to be hid somewhere.

"I can glide from here, Honey, go ahead and go inside. I will be back in awhile…" _got the message….._

Star gave him a suspicious glance as he 'glided' down to the body, folding the jet. He took a few minuets to loot everything of worth, cash, gun, ammo, radio, and the like got set aside. Alex then punted the body into the sea a ways. He walked in about an hour later, having cleaned up the mess. He simply nodded to Blackfire.

"How….How can he do that, and maintain any of his composure afterwards?" Star whispered to Raven.

"In the wars he and B fight, survivors are rare…" Raven whispered back, "going through the same thing, I might have been rendered a drooling idiot, amongst other things… I have no clue how they do it…"

"Hey gals, what-up, would just like to remind you that I can hear just fine," Alex " so if gossiping about our past is what you have in mind, at least don't try to be sneaky about it… Star, when I get a chance, I will pull you aside and explain some of what happened, okay… Oh and in speaking of pasts," he dropped his voice low. "I am curious what Raven must've told you, from her head, you accepted B back so quickly…"

Raven gave as best an innocent look as she could, "Hey, I just get emotions, dude… but I got enough, B also said a lot has happened, but at the time, I didn't believe her…"

"Hey, BB is goanna hurt for a good while, but that dork will make it" Blackfire said, interrupting their conversation, "what are you guys talking about it"

Alex tried honesty for size, "A little about me, a little about you…."

"Like what?"

_un oh, not good, commencing to lie out of my ass….._ "Like how we met and stuff, B"

Star, bless her soul, pulled the save for him, "Yes, most interesting…. I was about to remark that the LFC seemed to do you a lot of good… You put others first now, he says, not that he needed to…" she added, "You proved that to me yourself yesterday, and in this battle as well."

B smiled at him for the obvious bragging he was doing, and walked off "Hey, no embarrassing stories, 'cept maybe for my first dropship ride…three hours, and never left the ground….."

"Why only that one!?" _there are so many more that don't directly involve me…._

"Two Words, Your Fault!" Blackfire said with a laugh.

"What!?" Raven gasped, "Is this story appropriate?"

Alex sighed, "Yes, well, sorta….The first time she was goanna ride a dropship, I accidentally left a wrench in the doorframe during inspection…. When the door closed itself, with her inside, it got…. stuck….. and I couldn't get in to un-lodge it, or open the troop doors, either. So we had to get a plasma torch, and, quite literally, cut the stupid door out… took three hours…. Those things don't have bathrooms in there, either, so, as you might expect, she knocks me over on her way out, on a mission of her own. Bolts for the men's washroom, it was closer, I guess, like there is no tomorrow. Every guy in there leaves, or is thrown out of there in a hurry…. A few minutes later, I am sitting with my CO, getting yelled at for being a dumb-ass, when my girl busts over, going all 'permission to speak freely, sir'… 'Coarse he grants it, to my dismay. B just grabs me by the collar, and says, in that low voice I came to call the 'Whisper of Death'…. 'If it had taken another 2 minutes, I would've killed you, do you know why, Mr. Fix-it?'… My CO just laughed like it was the funnies thing he had ever heard . Unfortunately for my health…. It was, as far as I was concerned…. Laughed my ass off, got beaten for it, by both of 'em, and laughed though the pain"

Raven was trying not to laugh, as it was slightly funny. Star on the other hand, just shook her head, "Shame the door didn't give you a bit more trouble, like say, 2 minuets and three seconds worth, perhaps?"

At that point Raven did lose it, as did Alex and Star.

"One point to the Red Head, at my expense… "

"Rust, could you come here, please" Robin said as he walked in, "BB wants to speak with you a sec."

"Sure, not a thing , Boss."

Alex walked into the medical wing with a sober look on his face. He saw BB lying on the table, with a few X-ray exposures on a lighted wall panel. The steady beep of an EKG, and a tray with medical supplies. The place was an antique by LFC standards, but it was clean, and far surpassed most fringe-world accommodations he and B would end up in. Adding to that, this was not a public use or government structure, and Alexander was impressed. This Robin cared a great deal for the health of his team. Alex noted that for reference, and walked over to Beast Boy's bed,

"Hey, Beast Boy, what do you need?" The Skill-Warrior asked the younger changeling

"Hey, Robin, gives us a minute, would ya?"

Robin gave Alex a look he had trouble deciphering, and walked out, closing and locking the door behind him. Alex stood there looking at BB, who now had a lost expression on his face, as if his will to ask the question he had left him. Alex sat down on the edge of his bed. Just offering company for awhile, he knew from the stressed look on BB's face what the matter was. But didn't want to rip it out of the kid. He patted the changeling on the shoulder lightly. Not saying a word, Alex got up , pulled off his jacket, and set it on the chair next to BB's EKG.

"Alex," Beast Boy addressed him formally, "what helps you, with this war stuff, since you and Blackfire are the only soldiers here, and I didn't really wanna ask her, so that left you…."

Alex sighed for a minute, and asked, "You have never drawn blood, so to speak, have you", avoiding the word 'kill'…..

"No!" Beast Boy cried, "Now Robin is goanna kick me off out now, for sure, he hates killing!"

"I don't know him, but I do know his type… While he may have his rules," Alex said assertively, " his first is for he and his to keep themselves alive, unfortunately that meant you used the only option available to you. Dose that make it feel better, hell no, but it is what it is none-the-less. You did not see this, but Robin himself doomed half a dozen troops by taking out a dropship, with Star's help, so he can't say much…… The thing that pisses me off with these Commonwealth is they give you no choice most of the time. If you want to feel fetter, as much as that is possible, stop blaming yourself for what happened, and find someone to love, and your covered there I think?"

"Love is nice, but it don't help this!" BB said "What is Rae thinking of me, now-"

"Worried sick, I think…and it dose, man, it dose. Gives you a reason to carry on, to do the impossible, to sacrifice, maybe everything, and do it again and again… You can't kill for you, nor should you ever want to. But if killing will save Raven, then, well, damn boy, you've got to do what you've got to do, no matter hard it is… It ain't pretty, but that is how it is, for me, at least."

"So to protect those I love, I have to be alive, and to do that, I had to kill that guy… but I regret killing him" BB said, he was calming down, but not all of the way. "what about that?"

"BB, I regret every life I have taken, trust me, that is where love can heal you, too…"

"Thanks Alex…. You helped a helluva lot more than strong-an- Silent Robin, who would just shake his head, again and again….."

"When is Star ever goanna to tech her pet bobble-head to speak I wonder"

BB laughed at that, "Don't know, Alex…….. Hey, can I ask you something else, dude"

"..Yeah" Alex said, wondering what else he could possibly know

"Where do live, what's it like?" BB asked

Alex scratched his head, not expecting something so simple, "I live on a planet in the Antares system, Antares III. The planet is actually named Millennia, after the planet spanning city there, not that you'd see much from orbit, whole thing is underground. Trees, streets, a few skyscrapers in some of the lager caverns…. Not that much to it really. If you do go there one day, go to Government Square, they have converted it into a big terrarium, with a TV like screen providing a sky backdrop, rain, and the like. Quite the sight , I saw it constructed." Noticing BB had giving him his entire attention, he continued "… My 'Home', as it where, is called House Phoenix… the complex that holds myself, my immediate family: Father, three brothers, 2 sisters, and Blackfire….Yes, she lives with me, get that smirk off of your face. The house also holds 200 other Skill-users that have the Phoenix surname. Some are relatives, some get the name for bravery, or by marriage, in the case my sisters. Assuming the guys don't already belong to a house, they will change their names… Weird, I know… I think you would like my sisters, though I don't see them much…"

"Awwww, why" BB asked, absorbed, "are they covert OPS like you?"

"Nope, medical core, we Skill-users can heal ourselves using our powers. And some, like Sara 'n Kristen, can heal others, a rare and valuable technique. I learned it from them, but is slow, and random, for me. And Skill-using females are VERY rare, so they have to get tests and stuff. Not life threatening, but they have to be close to medical care for that reason." he sighed, "I owe those girls a lot… they put up with me being all frady-cat about Blackfire…"

"Sisters are good for that, Star is kinda like that to me. But You shouldn't be scared about Blazin' B, she digs you, dude!" BB said, long since glad to leave the original conversion behind. "Seriously, what can be wrong, why are you so ner-"

"Hold out you hand, Beast Boy…" Alex said as he pulled off of his glove.

"Yikes!" BB yelpd, as the man took hold of his hand briefly, "Holy shit , man, you should he in here too, in a bed!"

"Nope, normal body temperature of a Skill-user of my level is 427 degrees, on your Fahrenheit scale, when I'm charged. B says that won't harm her… but that doesn't make me any less worried about it. She may be safe from… burning… but that cannot be comfortable. Try tongue-kissing boiling water, Beast Boy, even assume you had lips of steel, would you try that more than once, anyway?"

"Yes…."

"Wait, this is one who wanted to try eating Medi-foam….. You still want some?"

"Yes"

"Too bad."

"No fair!… hey thanks, by the way"

"Not a problem"

Alex got up, BB was in a better mood, mission accomplished, and walked out into the room. When he entered the living room, he saw Blackfire sitting on the couch, Raven, Cy, Robin, and Starfire where sitting in a a semi circle around her, and the mood didn't look good

"Blackfire, I am you sister, I don't know why you won't talk to me-" Star pleaded

"I can't, ok, just a bad dream while I was napping, nothing to concern yourself with"

"We care, Blackfire, we cared back then, and even more now… Do you want me to find Alex?" that was Robin

"No, he can't help really either… plus he is helping BB"

Alex couldn't help but feel a little hurt, but dismissed those words, as B was a bit upset right now.

"Please, guys, I appreciate you looking after her, but if she wants space, that is what she will get."

Blackfire looked daggers at him for stepping in, however as she watched him hop over the couch, her eyes softened a bit. Alex tried a Beast Boy tactic: Doing without thinking. He lightly placed a bare hand in hers, giving a light squeeze. She glanced at him briefly in surprise, then continued "I'm fine really, I am!"

"NO, sister, I will not let you tear yourself apart while I sit by and watch!"

"What about Earth, sister? I think Earth needs you attention first, then you can worry about me."

The others, except for Robin and Starfire, made themselves scarce. Blackfire was getting really antsy. Star just looked at her with anger in her eyes, why, Alex could not even fathom. Robin didn't show any emotion at all. Alex actually caught himself wondering if he ran on batteries,. If so, they where spent.

"Blackfire. I am angry you won't even trust me. After all you have put me though, you owe me that!… I'm going to see if Beast Boy is OK, where my presence will be appreciated!" Star said as she stormed off

Alex said in shock "What in the hell was she pissed at B?"

"I don't want to talk about it okay?…." she said, and watching him begin to rise, "…. Sorry, please don't go, she just doesn't understand- what I-we went through. I can't tell her, not yet. Can you talk to her? Starfire deserves to know, but it is too damn hard-"

"Ssshhh, 's alright, I'll talk to her, 'kay?" he soothed, sliding her over to his lap. _what in the name of all things smart am I doing_? When she rested her head against his chest, Alex could not help shutter a bit. He started to count his heartbeats to calm down a bit, knowing stress could cause him to charge his powers.

"_I told you that this would not hurt me…. Actually it feels good…" _Blacfire purred, although she tried to hide her nervousness, never having been this submissive to anyone before. She found it a little difficult to get comfortable, but she did eventually. Blackfire felt his warmth wrap her like a blanket, and slowly, she drifted off.

Alexander was so focused on controlling the energy coursing though his body, he didn't even notice B had fallen asleep, until a certain Boy Wonder waltzed in. He looked around briefly, turned and starting to look for the remote. Cursing under his breath, he gave Alex one short look, then another, and held his last, with big, all knowing grin. Robin held his finger to his mouth, and pointed. Alex looked down at B, who was off in some war free wonderland, judging by the look on her face. Alex watched in amazement at her, body shifting slightly with each slow breath.. He was just getting used to this when Starfire flew in, with something on her mind.

"Hey, Ro-"

"Sshhhh" Robin said, pointing in a now red-faced Alex's direction

"Awwwwwwwwww!" Star, said with a joking grin, "So cute, absolutely adorable!… See, Robin, if we make then share a room, you won't get woken up by her walking around at night…"

"No!" Alex whispered, not getting the joke, "I'm really shy! Maybe, someday-"

"Not too shy, player." Robin said, with an attempt to sound ghetto, "Got that game too…"

"You've got _plenty of games. Love…." starfire mewed, taking him laterally._

_Robin's face began to compete with his shirt, "I getting the hell out-"_

_His statement was cut off By the Titan's alarm. The noise sent Blackfire instantly awake, and red-faced. And she leapt off of Alex in a flash, "Be right back!"_

"_Someone will pay for this indecency, I was enjoying myself…." Alex hissed_

_--_

_Action, sappiness next chap is half done, will post it the minute it is (I have been working on this for a while if you didn't guess)_


	5. Leadership

:Chapter 2: Leadership

This picks up about 3 seconds after the last chapter

My bread and butter, blowing shit up!

Okay, have to get some opinions on where this should go, this chapter wasn't long enough to be 2, and a bit long to be one, I kept the latter out of frustration… Also, It transitions from action to outright silly. Like I said, I'm new at this, also new to lemon, just skip from "Robin took her face in his hands" to "He felt her stir….", and avoid it all… any suggestion, even flames on this chap will be cool, because it is awkward. It accomplished what I wanted, plot-wise, later ones will be much better!

Stuff you might not like: Robin snapping for a bit, shitty lemon, sappy romance

The Titan's tower dose get a bit redecorated, but it still stands, just FYI (never seemed to get all that busted in the series, you can thank NEO for inspiration here)

--

"It's the Commonwealth, they have ground units inbound to Jump, a fuckin' shit-load of 'em….."

"Looks like an occupation force, lots of regulars, no mech's, little air cover… One of us LFC needs to run for help, this isn't good, and it is just this city, let alone the rest of the pla-" Blackfire added.

"What the Hell is that!? " Cy screamed, as a large helicopter-like vehicle lacking any rotors, but not lacking firepower, opened it's 6 8-barrel plasma cannons on the front window of the living room.

Everyone in the room laid flat, as debris from the walls and furniture exploded around them, Robin tossed a few grenades out of his belt, and the ship burst into flames before crashing into the ground below.

"Fuck!" Alex screamed, "Cover Me!", as he leapt through the flames. He grabbed his jetpack off of the wall, and strapped it and his helmet on, he did not see Raven. BB's bed was empty in the med bay, and Blackfire was MIA right now. That had him worried.

"Blackfire! Where Are You? BB, Raven?" Alex called as he leapt down the stars

"Over here, dude!" BB said, "Just ran for- life….owww"

"Sit down, do you know where B or Rea are" He asked the changeling

"Blackfire Is trying to get Rea out of her room, the door is stuck…..I can't help, man, I can't help-"

"Yes, you can, get your Comm and call Robin and Star… get them to help you out here, I am activating a contingency plan…B, on my way!"

Blackfire had been in her room when the gunfire had got her attention, running to get Rae, she almost got crushed by falling debris from the explosion, and now she was trying to open Ravens door, "Raven, I'm coming!"

"B! hey!…..what is that smell… gas? … Shit! Rea?"

"…Yea?"

"Stand in front of the window, the blast opened a gas line! B, on three… One, Two, Three!"

They busted the sturdy door in and rushed Rea out of the window before fuel hit oxygen, and made a nice fuel-air explosive. The whole building shook with the violent blast. The T-car was pulling away from the trio. After letting go of B, Alex activated his Mirco-Jet. And started looking for blood.

"Titans, report!" Robin

"Rae, here, hair singed, but here…"

"B, here, all of you guys okay"

"Yea, Star, BB, Cy and I are here… Alex, do you have any missiles left" Robin said.

"Yes, sir, Three, to be exact."

"Good, we might need 'em later. Any suggestions? Our home is in flames, and I don't plan to let that go unanswered…" Robin added with venom in his voice.

Blackfire piped up, "We need to get fleet backup….until then, we wait… Can we get a three way to the LFC, for support?"

Robin said, in a frustrated tone, "Not without a radio, Blackfire! Or did you forget to look behind you"

"Hey! I am trying to help!"

"Quiet both of you, what do we do about BB, he needs a hospital." Rea said.

_I need a beer…. _is the only thing that went though Alex's mind at the moment.

"B, ride on my back for awhile. You seem to be having a little troub-" Rusty said, watching his girl gain and lose a lot of altitude.

"Shut Up! I can fly-" She screamed, then stopped doing just that.

Alex yanked on the stick to catch her, only to find Rea holding her up, "hey let 'er go, I got 'er"

B landed on the jet, right where the pointed, glass nose-dome ended, arms wrapped around the "neck" of the nose. She stretched out over the back of the fighter, legs between the upper air inlets.

"Looks fun B… like riding a drunk, loud, deformed manta ray, in the process of eating someone." Star said, desperate to stop dwelling on everything that just happened.

"But those don't fly, Star, those swim." BB said, with a _I'm smart!! _look on his face….

"BB I'm impressed, you have watched the Discovery channel, haven't you?" Robin said bitterly, preferring to dell.

"Yup, once, I couldn't find the remote…." BB said, looking back at the tower, "they already have fireboats on it…..should be okay, gotta be okay."

"Our tower will get fixed, I have to use wrecked Commonwealth steel to do it." Robin said, to the agreement of all.

"What are my orders, sir?" Alex asked

"Conserve charge on that jet-thing, and be ready to fend off any pursuit," Robin answered.

"Switch up, Blackfire" Alex said "can you fly?"

"Yeah sure" B said, and hopped off, waiting for the little jet the fold up, before catching it's pilot. Rusty took to riding on Blackfire's back like a bike, legs dangling on either side of her, grabbing the back of her shoulders with his hands. Blackfire let out a sigh and banked toward Raven, the 3 in the air watched the car, and followed it to an out-of-the-way motel.

The T-car pulled in, and B and Raven landed, Alex falling off of B with a thud.

Walking into the office, Robin asked the owner if any rooms were open. When he found out there where 4, he rented all of them. Walking out too the others, he handed out keys

"Alex and Cy, yours…. Blackfire, here…. BB, share with Raven, And I'll share with Starfire. B, since you have your own room, you store our equipment in yours."

"Not a problem, Sir. What next" Alex asked, "we need equipment, and BB need to get some rest."

"Have to hand it too you for walking, Beast Boy." Blackfire commented, noticing that he had taken to leaning against the T-Car. Raven then noticed herself, and levitated him to her room with her.

"OK, Alex, we need to know everything about them, their strengths, weaknesses, strategies. What kinds of weapons do they use, and what gets through their armor…."

"You want to fight a war?" Alex asked, hand on his hips, Blackfire had the same look, "You've come to right place, friend, we can't defeat them, but we sure give them trouble. First things first, cash, pawn shops, and the electronics store. Then to the general store… for some medical supplies and food. The pawn shops have weapons. Our powers will do more, faster, but they're draining, too. We need radios, a laptop or two for satellite communications. As far as what gets though their armor, it is an energy resistant ceramic material, still susceptible to more conventional weapons; Guns and bombs, stuff of that nature. Strategy…. Think Napoleon, with a twist, they prefer large troop action, but with modern air support… frankly, it is the stupidest tactic, but they are so predictable, we read them like a book now… that being said, they are still dangerous, and have an army almost as large as the Legion dose, despite our lager size. Their personal weapons are a bit better also, if you ask me. If you get hit without battle armor, it dose not put a clean hole, like a Earth-made weapon dose…it blows the limb that got tagged completely off, usually… hide first, and only expose if you are more than sure of a headshot, since that is the only sure way to kill a commie at anything other than point-blank range."

"We're in trouble, then…" Robin sighed.

"Yes, we are, but think on the bright side. Their Starfleet left, we could be screwed worse…"

To weeks later…

Robin awoke to the drone of a Commonwealth tank, pulling into the motel. In the few weeks that passed between the attacks at the tower and now, they had not stayed in a place for more than a night or two, and this was not an exception (especially because of the recent string of weapons purchases and thefts around the area, no doubt they where catching on), he heard troops running from room to room making a surprise inspection . "Shit, Star, honey, get up!"

"I'm already up." she was still in her pajamas, "what is going on?"

Shots in another part of the motel snapped Robin's attention, a few Commonwealth and ganged up on Rae and BB on their way back to their room. Raven held several off with her powers, while BB charged in the form of a ram, dealing with a few more. Robin made it to the nightstand as 4 Commie goons kicked in the door, and opened fire immediately. Robin and Star hit the deck, as one of the troopers was hit by a round in the back. Following this a flurry of rounds fired from a Beowulf assault rifle. Alex looked pointedly at them for a second, then ran to join the gunfight erupting in the parking lot.

Robin grabbed the handle on the nightstand, and pulled the Colt 1911 he had been hiding at Alex's "recommendation", and charged the pistol with a "Click… Crack!". Star looked in horror and disgust at the weapon in her boyfriend's hand. Robin looked around the room, and starting grabbing his gear, which he and his kept as packed as possible. Gunfire had slowed to a rhythm, as the titans would pop and use weapons or powers, then duck for cover again. Single shots started to outnumber full auto, as ammo was in finite supply. Robin watched the cross fire, trying to get a time to run for cover by the rest of his team.

Alex had watched from cover as another group of men caught up to the action , and weighed his options. His Beowulf was empty, and B's was as well, and he had only three rounds for his AA-12. Even his Glock 18 had but 8 rounds or so. The only weapon he had a full load in was the Freelancer, and that would give away his identity, or at least his alliance, to the Commies; Not an option. Alex watched as green Starbolts crossed the kill zone, and a few guys went down, not out, but down at least. When he saw the commander grab a radio, the time for subtly was over, oh well. "Blackfire, the time for hiding is over! Clear for all weapons and powers!"

Two little pistols came out their holsters, and emptied 1,000 rounds each, ending what was left of Commonwealth resistance. "Clear!….Clear!…."

"Why didn't you-" Robin began

"'Cuz now, they know we are Legion now, and that, my friend is a bad thing…" B said.

"Guess so…" Robin said, with a lack of care that Starfire found…disturbing.

With that, Robin, who now held his gun in hand, surveyed the scene. Spying a lone trooper still moving, he walked over, and said, "Why couldn't you just leave us alone!?", as he pointed the gun at the face of the trooper. Robin's hand was shaking, but did not lower the pistol. Starfire was shrieking, trying to stop him. In fact B and Alex had to work together to hold her back. "Robin, Don't…No!"

"I'm sorry, Star, they have killed so many of my friends, people like you and me, not monsters…. Just people!" Robin said, his voice wavering, "We cannot, will not, let them take our home…"

"Let go of me, you two! Robin, Baby No! Nooo!" Star screamed

Robin's hand stopped moving, then clicked the safety, "Die, you piece of shit…"

The trooper just looked with horror, and pissed himself, "please, sir, we are just-"

"What? Following orders? If you where told to jump off a fucking bridge, would you do it?" Robin sneered, something snapped inside of him, "I'm disgusted with you assholes…"

"Stop, Robin! If you love me, you will not do this!! This is something Slade would do! Robin-"

_**BOOM!…BOOM!…**_

Star cried out and fell to her knees, "Why!?… We are no better than they are, now…"

Robin heard her say something, but all he could make out was the sound of the gun. A whistle in his ears blocked out most sound, but eyes looked at him, Raven and Beast Boy had shock in their eyes, Alex and B had what looked like sympathy, Cy held no emotion at all, but one pair of eyes held on him with betrayal. Star was still wailing and yelling, pointing her finger at him, Robin was too tired to care all of the sudden. "We better move, can we use these?" he said, holding a Commonwealth rifle.

"Yeah, B, show him how, I'll get our shit together." Alex said as she walked to his room.

Star had remained silent, she had begged him not to shoot, but he killed anyway, and it hurt her that he would kill in cold blood like that. She sat silently in the back of the T-car, trying to count road signs, or even occupation forces (thought it hurt to look at them). They where being followed, and led as well, by a pair of Commonwealth tanks, the two temporary members of the team driving those. The guise was meant to get them far away from the city to avoid any more conflict then necessary, and to get to the local TV station. They hoped they could get a signal to Tamaran, and from there, to the LFC, for a fleet action against the occupying forces. It was said that remnants of the US military also made their home in the countryside. As Cyborg drove, Robin stole a view of Starfire in the rear-view from time to time. He disliked seeing her angry, and he hoped he could explain why he did what he did. But he had to figure out why he did that himself, for that matter. BB was taking it almost harder then she, and openly indicated that if Robin were in a pickle, BB would not be the one to ask for help.

"All, this is Black Jet, have the island in sight, lights are on, someone's home" Alex called from the Micro-Jet.

"Island" was the code word for the TV station, which meant it was very close. Robin hit the gas.

"Got major toys in the parking lot, head on a swivel…" Robin heard as he gunned the car, Cy backed him up in the tank, which pulled alongside the T-Car. The rest where in it. The second had enough stolen gear to hold Panama. As Robin pulled ahead again, the little shack of a building came into view. _our fortress awaits…_ Robin saw several Surface Assault Vehicles, like the one that shot up the tower , sitting at the ready. _great, just great_.

"SAVs on the deck!" Alex yelped, "Permission to deal some pain!?"

"Confirmed, bring the rain, Black Jet" Robin ordered

"Missiles away!…. In the ass!… Love, You're up!" The Skill-user cried. "Do what you do!"

A flurry of Starbolts pelted one before it could lift off, the secondary explosions bringing another one into the sky, in pieces. "Buy one, get one free, beat that!"

"Sure," Alex said, and folded his Micro-Jet, "lets show our new friends what a Skill-Warrior can do!…"

Alex landed between 2 rows of troop carriers, and charged as much power as he could. Several Commonwealth soldiers now looked at him with jaws dropped. He didn't give them time to stare. He called a wall of flame that propelled him along, making a "V" shape of fire, and secondary blasts, rushing across the ground toward the men. At the end of the attack, Alex immediately launched into the air with his jet in pack mode. As he twisted the see a missile heading in his direction, it turned black, and promptly turned on the SAV that fired it. A green pterodactyl flew over another one, and switched to a whale mid flight, one more SAV down, a-la crushing.

Blackfire grabbed BB as the ship went up in a fireball, and launched him toward the enemy horde.

Star came out of nowhere, and, with release of a single Starbolt, redesigned a captured HUMVEE. Cy, still in the tank, just ran over most of his targets, but managed to somehow dust of the second to last SAV with the main gun, turning a few heads in the process.

Robin, popped the trunk of the car as he finally got out, and grabbed a large box shaped hunk of steel out . Placing a coffee-can shaped battery into it, robin went for the bread and butter of the military gear he had gotten his hands on. The green Stinger Missile tube, levered onto the top, added a lot of weght to the device. Robin hefted it to his shoulder, and toggled the thumb switch, and armed the weapon. Searching for the last SAV, now closing on Star with guns blazing, he locked on.

Starfire ducked and dodged the angry streams of metal that chased her, where was Robin when she needed him most? He answered her question with an explosion, sending her tumbling thought the air far a few seconds. When she turned, all she was the launcher sitting on the ground, but she knew who fired it. _thanks, Love._

"All air targets down, joining the ground fight!" Blackfire said.

"OK, what entrance should we go in?" BB asked.

Robin said, "All of 'em! Lets get in, get help, get out!"

"Roger….." B called back.

"Copy, Leader!" Alex called, at which Robin suddenly wondered why those two even listened to him.

"Got your back, Boss" Cy yelled.

"I'm in, lets go!" Star said, "Thanks Robin"

They gathered at the four entrances to the small building. On a signal, they busted in on cue, letting lead, Starbolt, bird-a-rang, or black magic fly with horrible precision. With five minutes of doors getting kicked in, the station was theirs.

"Status check?" Robin said.

"All clear!" Alex called, Blackfire didn't waste words, and just stuck her thumb up.

"All is well." Starfire said, as Raven and BB came in after her, nodding in agreement, "Cyborg is already working on a retrofit to the dish, so we can contact Tamaran, and get help."

"I'll go help, Robin…" Alex said, "He could use it, lots of work to do."

"You do that, Alexander… Hey Star, could you come here for a second, I need to talk to you." Robin asked.

"No, actually, you don't…" Starfire said bitterly, "I know what you are about to say, and frankly, I am in no mood to here the apologies-"

"Star! Holy Shit! That was not where I was going with it… Do not presume you know, or even tell me, what I am thinking!" Robin snapped, losing control over assumption, and making Blackfire (who had not left yet) duck into another room for cover, "Where do get off doing that!? I do one thing you dislike, and you go nuts on me? What I actually wanted to know was if that ship I just happened to blow off of you ass had managed to score any hits!" Robin was seeing red by now, and said without thinking, "Fucking shame it didn't, Get out of my face!"

Star ran from the broadcast room, into the DJ booth, spilling tears on the way. Alex caught sight and ran to see the other titans glaring at their now fuming leader. Blackfire looked at him as he entered, and said, "Go easy on him, not too easy, though" as she ran out to find her sister.

Alex looked at Robin, who was obviously pissed, but nothing was worth making B's sweet little sister cry. "What the hell, Robin? What did you say?? We don't have time for arguments like this! Star is crying, for God's sake, do you think she would be any good in an ambush right now!? What if she gets killed-"

"So what-" Robin began, but got interrupted by Alex picking him up into the air by his neck.

"Obviously, you are currently incapable of doing anything more than rant and rave, do not make me force to relinquish command to one of you other team members, or take over myself. I don't want to go there, but the safety of those beside me is paramount, including you. Not that you deserve the backup, since you can win the war for us. A leader wishing any Ill to come of his troops, pissed or not, has gone too far." The LFC operative said in a voice he found worked with his troops, this guy however was either to pissed, or too stubborn to care. Probably both

"Fuck off, Cesar! You have nothing to do with-" Robin yelled, now forgetting the reason he was mad in the first place, settling for the first slur of the Legion he could think of.

"What? That is the best jab you can think of, your pathetic!" Alex sighed, dropping him, "Titans, besides Captain Temper-Tantrum, which one of you is most senior?"

"Star…." Cy said

"Shit, next…"

"Raven…"

Robin was in angry shock, this guy from a big empire of nowhere was messing with his team, and his team was going for it, what was wrong in this world? "What the fuck do you think-"

"Saving your command! Whether you like it, or not! Raven, are you prepared to accept the full responsibility or leadership, until such time as all of you agree Robin has returned to capacity to continue said duties."

"Raven, are you goanna sell out on me like this"

"This isn't selling out, Robin, you will always be _my_ leader, but you need to cool it for a few hours, if not a few days… No, I am not leader material, I vote Cy, or yourself"

"Sorry, Rae, not me!" Cy said, "don't want to do this to Robin, even if it is the right thing to do, for now…"

"I can't even fight at full strength yet, I can't cover the slack, leaders gotta do that…" BB said, making Alex wonder who was goanna handle the Titans while Robin got put in time-out.

"Any suggestions? Out of respect for the skills Robin has displayed thus far, I will not take over his command myself, but someone needs to… Like I said, this is by far a temporary arrangement…. Still no takers?" Alex said, now wondering if any of them had it in them to put robin in his place.

"I say Blackfire should take over" Star said in a shaky voice out of left field, unlocking Robin's jaw to gravity, "She can lead, as she has the same experience with the enemy as you do."

"Blazin' B's got my vote!" BB said.

"I'm OK with that. Like you said, Alex, a temporary assignment, until Robin gets his head on straight. I think she would be more than qualified, as a short term leader." Raven said with a nod.

"I can't believe this is happening-", Robin almost pouted.

"Shut up, you aren't the one you deserves the caring!!" Star spat, giving the shocked Boy Wonder a taste of his own medicine.

"Well, Blackfire, you have proven yourself trustworthy so far, I have no reason to say you'd do any worse then me, so I vote B also." Cy said.

"Commander, I cannot make you take the position, since it is not a unit of the LFC, but you are free to do so. If you feel you can do it, then you hold the fort for Robin, while he blows off steam… If you do your job well enough, I will count this as the equivalent of a command of one of my teams, Understand?"

B gulped, this one of the most important tasks she had ever been asked to do, even if it lasted only five minutes. She thought hard about leading those she betrayed twice, not so many years ago…. "If the Titans will have me, I'd be honored to.. I can't ever fill Robin's shoes, but if giving him a break helps, then I'm glade to do it… I'd bet you'll be back in charge in a day or two… Got command on my first covert op, this aught to be a good laugh for the brass." she added

"Blackfire… I wish you well, I really do… I'm just, hell I don't know-" Robin said, feeling betrayed.

"Robin, I am not taking your family away form you! Right now, they need someone with a grip, and yours is slipping. You need to let go for awhile, focus on kicking ass, and vent some pent up frustration on those that need to feel it. Get a little sleep for a few days. You do that, and you'll be doing what you do best in a few days… It's not the end of the world… Although if you leave, I would ask you to apologize to Starfire before you go, she deserves that much…", B said calmly, "Thanks for not exploding at us… Though I bet this is pissing you off… Would me, too…"

"I'm not in any mood for apologizing, Blackfire, not _now_. That will be the first thing I do, when that time comes." Robin said as he finally got to his feet, "I'm outta here…."

"Robin, wait!" Starfire started

"No, Star, if I can't handle it, as you say, then I am a danger to the team. I'm leaving, just don't ask me for help anymore…" Robin said, "I will deal with this on my own… see ya around, maybe…"

"Robin, you'll come back, and when you do, we'll be here… Take care of yourself…" Raven sighed, "Just don't make it you against the world…"

Star just watched him go with tears in her eyes, "We where too hard on him."

"No, he needed to hear what he needed to hear. Isn't it him driving off into the sunset on his own?" Alex moaned, "Give him a few days, hell, probably a few hours, Star. He'll come crawling back… "

Star just shook her head, and went into the DJ booth. Blackfire and the Titans policed the weapons and ammo in the parking lot, and shoved it into a hover tank. Cy went and made a final adjustment to the antenna, and the show was ready to get on the road.

"Galfore, this is Starfire….Yes I know you cannot see me, we can no longer use the tower, can you get a message to the Legion, we need some help here… what?… Oh, that is wonderful!! But how long?…. Oh, dear… We will try to hold on here as long as we can, I hope they will come quicker."

"Friends, Help is finding it's way to us! The ship they sent to drop off Alex and my sister decided to stay on station at world not far from Tamaran. It was still in range of comms, so Galfore just called it… they are coming now, to drop off supplies, and are contacting another ship for an air strike… what was that one called, started with a 'V'…"

"Vanquish?" Blackfire asked, with a big, evil grin.

"Yes, that is it… What a glorious crew, that would go out of there way to help" Star screamed, making a bi-polar shift in mood, "I must tell Robin, that will sure help his mood!"

Alex just stood dumfounded, "That is odd, why was the Vanquish deployed out this far, how long 'till she gets here?"

"Only a week!" Star bubbled

"That is very unfortunate for the Commonwealth! The Vanquish is the largest man made, mobile, object in the LFC, maybe even in the known universe, for all I know. It is out flagship, in fact… Is presence here means upper leadership took a personal interest in protecting Earth… It's where us humans come from, of course… I hate to admit, this is likely as political as it is a physical move… Regardless, it is good to hear that ship's name again."

"Why, Alex, sure it's big, probably kick-ass lookin, too… but still…" BB said

"Me and Blackfire met there…" Alex said, with a smile of nostalgia.

"'Nuff said, that ship is awesome…" BB laughed.

"Had I known 3 ½ years ago, what I know now, I'd of said something witty… So you could have the pleasure of quoting me… We'd better get outta here, unless ya'll want to radio the Commies, so they can join our little party."

"That was witty, at least… Yeah, lets go, playtime's over. Hey Cy, where'd you put that big orange box I gave you?" Alex asked, "I want to leave it behind for the Commonwealth, when they get here"

"What, the one with C-4 printed on it, took the liberty of placing it near all of the supports for this building, hope you don't mind…" Cy grinned

'No, that 's fantastic…Blackfire would you mind making them feel at home?"

"Yea, Alex, would love too… Hey, Cy, get me the trigger, and a screwdriver, will give them a little something to help that sticky light switch" Blackfire said, in her element, as far as black OPS was concerned "what else do we have that goes boom… I'd wire everything we don't take, if I where me…" Blackfire

"If you think we can spare the explosives, do it. I'll pack our gear."

"Cyborg, with me, Raven and BB, Help Alex… Star, get back in touch with Galfore, and let him know we cannot respond, and to request a Jumper to drop portable barricades, if possible" Blackfire said as and Cy went to work

"What's a Jumper?" Star asked

"You don't need to know, we'll explain later" Alex said

They wired the place to blow, and left right after got news that no drop was available, the team was told to hide their gear, and lay low. Not something that any of them was quite content with. But they headed out into the desert some sixty miles, and found a now abandoned warehouse to hind there gear in. Star was getting particularly irritated with the situation. Even Raven didn't like it, even though it was the logical choice. They just had to wait it out…

Robin drove the HUMVEE back to the city, entering though a little back road that had escaped enemy notice. He almost ran into a parked troop vehicle as a rounded a corner. _Damn this thing is wide as hell_ , he though to himself. Pulling up to a hotel , he tried to book a room, only to find the Commonwealth had taken all of them. Robin drove around for awhile, trying to find an alleyway to park in. settling on the empty lot behind a sleazy old club. Walking into the club itself, Robin found it packed with off duty solders, strangely, they did not seem to be causing any real trouble. Not that the owner of the place was happy to accommodate them. Robin settled himself into a corner, got himself something strong, and listened to the music.

"Hey," Two Commonwealth troopers said as they walked up to his table, "mind if we take a seat?"

"Yes, I do, actually…" Robin told them, "What do you want?"

They sat down despite him, "My friend thinks you're the guy who has insurgents raiding weapons and food. This true?"

"Why do you care, Commie…" Robin said, not particularly caring who or what this guy thought he was, "so what if I am, are you goanna fine me, or something?"

"We want the guns and ammo returned, and we will let it go, easy enough?"

"Won't get the guns, sorry, but you sure can get the bullets!" Robin said, having finally had it with these two. Drawing his colt faster then the troops could even register he was armed, he put 2 rounds in each of them. The two men flew back as the .45 ACP rounds made contact. With 4 rounds left, Robin picked the next closest, and loosed two shots on him, and one into the back of the man just stating to react, dropping the mag, Robin punched in another one. Using the 8th round from the last clip (which was already in the chamber) to keep shooting, robin dropped 3 more troopers. Ducking behind a wall, Robin took a moment to catch his breath, and guess how many where left, he dropped low, and fired into another guy until the slide locked back. Robin managed to grab a Commonwealth sidearm, continuing the fight with a nastier weapon.

"We are under-" one guy almost got out, as Robin caught him in the back with a stream of rounds. Both halves fell to the ground. Robin watched as his cover disintegrated, and almost bought it, in the process of finding more. With the last of the alien gun spent into three more men, Robin tried to make good his escape. Robin used his Bo staff to break the nose of the rear guard before he could fire. As robin ripped the man's gun belt, an earth-shattering explosion in his ear. A round whizzed past his head at around mach 50, blowing his ear drum.

"Aghh! Shit!" Robin heard himself scream as he ran to the jeep. He gunned it, hitting half a dozen men in the process, and drove like he had never before. Trying to keep his eyes open with the pain, he reloaded the Colt, and wasted a whole clip trying to hit a few enemy forces outside a convenience store. A well tossed grenade lit up a commandeered F-350. Robin saw several HUMVEE's Following him, when he tried to lose them, they only got more bold to keep up. One opened up on a Commonwealth troop transport. these where good guys? Robin shot the driver of another captured truck to let the other HUMVEE pull alongside. "Hey!! Who are you guys!?"

"American!" the one man said, he had what was obviously a BDU on, but no marking, not even a flag. Robin was a tad on the suspicious side.

"Sing our Anthem then!"

"Oh say can you see… By the dawn's early light… Happy now?" the solder asked, "wouldn't want to teach it to them!"

"Damn straight! You gat a gunner, I got a fifty!" Robin said, liking the idea of shooting Commonwealth for sport, "and a some painkiller, too. Fucking ear, can't hear a damn thing." Robin yelled as he slammed the brakes.

Robin's head got yanked sidewise, "Eardrum sir, not bad, but you goanna not hear straight out of it for a long time", said another man with a marine insignia, "We'll get the doc to look at you when we get out of the shit. Sir"

"Technical!" someone said, looking at the large truck inbound, with a Commonwealth SAV gun on it. Robin gunned the gas, as did the other jeep with the marines in it. As soon as he saw them, the trooper armed his cannon at Robin's truck and fired into the engine block, robin and his gunner just leaped to the next one, as a fireball almost turned them into a crisp. Another guy, in the back -eat-driver side, shot at the power pack under the Gatling gun, vaporizing the whole vehicle it was bolted to.

"Damn, didn't know about that!" Robin shouted, still clinging to the sloped back of the HUMVEE.

"Me Neither, but I do now, you alien bastards!" the sniper said.

"I got this one" Robin yelled as he tossed a smoke grenade into the front window of a low flying dropship. The smoke filling the inside of the ship made the pilots valiant attempt to land an utter failure.

"You a straight up dude, what your name?" His ex-gunner yelled, loud enough for him to hear

"Robin!!"

"Like Batman and Robin, Titans Robin?" another yelled.

"One in the fucking same…"

"Sweet Jesus… Where is the rest of ya!"

"Off napping, or causing hell… Bet it's the latter, knowing them… I just took a break, oh well, so much for my day off."

"Hey, you can always have fun with us!" The gunner guy said.

"Hell yeah… Hey wait…. That just gave me an idea." Robin grabbed his comlink "Titans, this is Robin, are you guys tucked in somewhere!?"

"Wow, that was quick, have a nice lunch?…. Yeah we got someplace, why? Sleepy?" Blackfire asked.

"We've got some Marines and I think Delta, but they aren't saying…."

"Sweet! Give me a sec…"

"What are you doing?" the driver asked

"If you wanna get outta this shit, they have a hiding place you can park at." Robin said, "Don't worry, line is secure."

"Shit… just keeps getting better and better, don't it?" the driver said again, shaking his head.

"This is B, you're clear, but tell the D-boys to get word to their friends, word of mouth, private party only, the read head came though with a radio, so we've got music, but not too loud. Lets keep it a _private _party. OK?"

"Copy that, Robin out"

"B out… "

Alex knew Robin can't be perfect yet, in five hours, but he was glad to see him back with the program. Star had gotten a short range HAM radio from somewhere, resourcefulness must run in the family. BB had gotten living quarters set up, though now that had to be… recalculated, Cy had even gotten the security system and power working again. Raven was blacking out the windows with a spray can. Alex occupied himself hotwiring the HAM set to get enough power to relay to the Vanquish, when she arrived.

Star left Alex up to the radio, and went to find her sister. Blackfire was in the makeshift office, looking over a list of things. She looked at Star with fear that something was goanna get added to that list for a moment. "Hello sister, I wanted to see if there was anything you needed, water, anything?"

" No thanks." Blackfire said, but seeing Star's face, "I appreciate you thinking of me though…"

"Oh, um, OK." Starfire said, "I there anything I can do around here to help"

"Yeah, I'll help you unload the weapons in a minute….Is there something on your mind?" Blackfire asked, noticing the look

"Just wondering if Robin meant what he said this morning, or yesterday, rather…" Starfire said, noticing that it was 11:45 PM, not that she cared.

"No, he didn't, just the testosterone talkin', probably regretting it. If he ain't, he will the moment he sleeps alone…"

Starfire giggled, "True, that has worked in the past… Hate to do it to him, but it works.. In speaking of sleeping when are you goanna? it's almost midnight."

"After Robin brings the marines, we get them situated, figure out who is in charge then, file more paperwork, operate on my hand after that is done… " Blackfire sighed, "Command is neat, but it ain't any fun… " Blackfire sighed, "I might head to the sack at around 3'ish"

"No, you are not! I understand you are taking the job seriously, but don't let it burn you out, need I remind you about my bird-brained Boyfriend? He dose this same thing, and it is one of the places I wish he'd improve… paperwork will not hunt you down if you meet your body's needs first. You haven't ate anything either, have you?" Star scolded lightly.

"No, didn't think about it, to be honest, so?" Blackfire said, now getting a little defensively, "I'll get something-"

"Right now, sister, then got to bed, I'll handle the team until Robin returns… In leadership, this is known as 'delegation'… Alex! Where is the food?"

Alex shot the two an odd look. Seeing Star almost manhandling B, while asking for food, was a bit much to take in, "Star if you are that hungry, get it yourself-"

"I have eaten already, where is the food again"

Now it made total, perfect sense, "In that foot locker over there, drinks in the cooler, enjoy…"

B shot him a look that made Alex give an old grin, he wasn't hungry, but this was worth eating for, "On that note, I am getting something also…"

"Now, Sister, I want know what you would like, _before_ I am forced to choose for you."

Alex went and got something, before Star decide to comment on his lack of eating, as well. She used it on him despite himself.

"See men at least know what they want when it comes to food… So Blackfire, which one?"

Blackfire grabbed one of the MRE packs that her sister was holding onto. Flashing Alex a _help me, please _look, she began eating her forcedly assigned meal. Robin walked in, about half an hour later, with a battalion of Marines, Army and Air Force. The taskforce also included several Delta operatives. Lots of men, regardless, but the warehouse had the space.

Alex left his food, and directed the madness, Blackfire tried to sneak off to help, but Star was having non of it. Once finished (to her relief), Star left her alone. She went back to her paperwork, with only a few more little thing to do left. When she entered the office, she found Cy was finishing the last form.

"Hey B! Saw Star took you out to eat, so I hopped in here for ya. You just gotta sign 'em"

"Cyborg, you didn't have to do that! You could've been asleep…." Blackfire pleaded, hoping Alex would not hear of this…

"Yeah, I did. Until the tribal council reinstates Robin, you're my leader. I wanted to help get you a little shut-eye, or whatever you can get, know what I mean…", Cy flashed a mischievous grin.

B looked at him in shock, then started to laugh, "Was that a dirty joke? Form you? He-he… ha-hehe… "

Cyborg just grinned, "Just depends on what you had in mind before I said anything… "

Blackfire hadn't realized it, but she was starting to agree with him, "hey CY, thanks…. Hey, love-bot, if you have a little more charge, there might be something you can help, need to catch my boyfriend…."

Robin and Star walked in just in time to hear that, getting big, knowing grins. "We wanna help, too, considering I owe him one…" Robin piped up, making Blackfire wonder what he meant by that, "So, boss, what kinda trap do you have in mind…"

"This will be most fun… like the joke Cyborg did that got us together. He is… exceedingly good at doing the hooking up of people"

Love doctor Cyborg grinned even bigger as he processed the data, "One, do you want a kiss, or more"

Blackfire went red, "I ain't goanna say!"

"Sweetie, the approach is totally different… He's confused enough as it is, I don't wanna make it worse."

Blackfire gulped and fought butterflies, "I can't believe I am _actually _doing this!… his dad will surly give me a lecture, oh well… I'd say… More, but I won't push him into it…"

Cyborg said "Star, get BB and Raven, if they are up… This needs to be a team effort…"

"Okay!" Star giggled, already getting where this was going. Robin sighed, "Same joke?… I feel bad for him, he ain't goanna know what hit him…"

Cyborg laughed, "You sure didn't…"

BB and Rea had evil smiles, the whole team had them, and at the expense of one Skill-Warrior.

Alex finished talking to the Delta leader, who after being interrupted by Starfire, with a message from another Delta guy on patrol, after a few whispered sentences, Star was gone in a flash. The Delta guy insisted his team take the night shift, understanding the spec OPS bunch from personal experience, he wasn't surprised. Walking back up the stairs to the second level of the warehouse, he spotted BB and Robin arguing over _where all of his stuff went?? Oh no, this can't be happening….. _Alexander quickened his pace toward them.

"Where is my shit!?" he yelled, "I am tired, and I have no need to remain conscious any longer! I need a cot to sleep on….who lost it??"

"Neither of us, Star doesn't know, we talked to her."

"Blackfire?"

"We wanna ask her, but she is… occupied." they both said, "Why don't you go ask her"

"Where is she?"

"The shower, one of the marines had a little portable one, like a baggy with a shower head-" BB said.

"I know what a camping shower is… How long?" Alex asked, getting red-faced at the image

"Bout five, maybe six minutes." Robin said, secretly hiding the smirk

"Hell, alright I'll give her another few minutes, those things don't last long…" Alex said, just shaking his head.

He found his gear and Micro-Jet, just in time for BB to wander in. the timing was too perfect, but his groggy brain could not register what was happening, so he did not pick up on the coincidence.

"Sir, Beast Boy Requests the use of the Micro-Jet, to run patrol. Sir!" BB said

"Nice bearing, but you can fly without a _loaned, multi billion credit _Micro-Jet.." Alex questioned, "What to you need it for?"

"He was looking to benefit from the IR, UV, threat detection system, speed, and firepower that it offered, for the night patrol he has been asked to perform, the radio helps, too…" BB begged

"If you break her, you stole her, you got me?" Alex said matter-of-factly, to tired to care, "If you steal her, I will kill you… "

"Yes sir!" BB said taking it, and Alex's helmet, "I'll even wipe 'er down after I'm done!"

"You do that, Beast Boy"

BB ran out with it, handing the large box to robin, "That thing weighs a ton…. "

Alex dozed for a few minutes, then looked at his watch, 2:45, Yikes… he had trouble explaining what was up, but he had trouble sleeping. He though that he heard BB launch, then something fall in the hallway. Grabbing his Beowulf, he walked out into the pitch black of night, and let his irises light up with night-sight.

Raven cursed, not knowing he can see in pitch black, she cloaked herself in her black magic as best she could, but he turned to her, and cocked his head, "What are you-"

"Shhh, something is here, I can't sense their location, but it feed on powers, kill the light in your eyes!" Rea lied.

Alex wanted to kill whatever this was, so he could sleep. He did as instructed, however. A noise down the hall got his attention, and he jogged toward the sound. Rifle drawn, he pulled up against the wall, waiting. He saw a shape exit B's room, and kicked in night-sight. Blackfire herself was the shadow, still wet hair glistened in the light is eyes could not pick up before. She was wearing loose fitting pajamas, what color he could not tell, not that it mattered. _Oh my God…_ Then he say a box lying against a wall, His Micro-Jet? _This explains a lot. I can't believe this is what she has to go through, to get me to see her in PJ's… Damn it all, I am worthless, as far as this shit goes_. He started to backpedal slowly on the balls of his feet, making not a single sound. He stopped when a very sharp point of a blade touched to his back. Alex snapped his head around, to see Starfire in the dark, with Alex's own blade in hand.

"Go to her…" she said, "You have toyed with her long enough… You at least ought to kiss her, for the work she went though to get you here …"

Alex had half a mind to flick the safety, arming the weapon, and alerting B to the situation

"You dare order me around? Drop the weapon, Starfire…" Alex said, now pissed that he had been tricked into this embarrassing situation. He watched as B's door closed (though not all of the way). Using the noise as cover, he disarmed Star by hitting her in the face with the butt of the gun from over his shoulder. Alex dropped to one knee, catching the blade before it made a racket. He watched Star glare at him, blood running from her nose, "I am going to go apologize for the mess you, and the Titans made… And also for me for pulling her into a relationship. One that I am not emotionally capable of dealing with."

"You choose not to be capable, Alexander, you are, but what weakness you see in that, I will never know. If you don't giver her a chance, give _you both_ a chance, I will tell her what you have done. She was responsible for the whole thing and likely, already knows that you have found out… the fact she had to go out of her way makes me feel sorry for you."

"Blackfire… you in there?"

Blackfire had it in her mind to break it off right them and there, if not shoot him, "It's unlocked, leave the rifle you just hit my sister with outside, the sword can come in,because the sheath is in here…"

_oh shit… _Alex open the door with a creak. Upon stepping in, she, who was already waiting, knocked the sword out of his hand, and held it over his windpipe. "Why?"

"Star had me in this kind of position, then thinly veiled a threat to run me though, she's okay, just a bloody nose." Alex explained, feeling genuinely justified.

"Just a bloody nose? What will be next time? Oh, yea, Sweetie, you sister called me a dork, just broke her neck, nothing special…" Yelled Blackfire.

"Keep it low! You'll wake up the whole fucking place!" Alex said, "If you want, hit me, but at least give the men downstairs some sleep!"

"By all rights, I should… " Blackfire started, "Tell me one reason I shouldn't…"

"Would I have honestly suggested it as an option, if I thought I didn't deserve it?"

"Then why'd you hit Star??" Blackfire said in an exasperated voice, "You need to resort to violence every time with her?? What should I have done, broke her leg for making me eat?"

"I honestly asked her to stand down, she did not, I got worried, I have no armor, I'm not invincible… my first thought was to grab and pump skill into it, but that might do more-"

"Again, why did you hit Star… What was she there for??" Blackfire said, anger seeping into her voice

"Well, I don't know… I was walking the hallway after hearing a noise, turned out to be you…" Alex went a pale read shade, "Ya caught me off guard… some of the others had made some comments that got my thinking… uh… Ah hell, I was admiring from a distance… didn't have the balls to do anything about it, so I backpedaled, when Star found me…"

"You don't think you've got the balls, nice to find out now… " Blackfire hissed as she sheathed his weapon, You have never even _tried_!! You let me fall asleep on your lap just fine, with people there… What makes this any different!? We are alone here, if you hadn't noticed…"

Alex gulped, "Blackfire, uh, I really want to make you happy, but I was afraid that, of we went to _that, _I was goanna ruin it for you… Not a mistake I can fix… No risk of going that far in public, either… "

Blackfire wasn't sure what to think, how did he know? "So, you know I'm a virgin, how?"

"B, I am your CO, I had you file. I stopped handling it when we made it official… but I already knew, I'm sorry…"

Blackfire glared daggers at him, what else did he know? "I'm pissed that you dove in on my medical records, to no end, but if it was out of concern, I will forgive it… I would've told you anyway, had you asked. Never get into my business again, unless it is a risk to my life, and at least _tell_ me, no matter how damn embarrassed you are… And with Star, I will take you word for it, until I hear it from her… ."

"Fair enough…Blackfire, sorry I kept you up…" Alex said as he stepped back

"Alexander, I'm no kicking you out… Can you just try something, for me?…. Kiss me, something all boyfriends do. Think you can handle that?" Blackfire said, wondering what in him made her tolerate his shyness.

Alex took another step back, and gulped visibly as he counted to three. "Okay, I think I can manage that, not that I am goanna be any good."

Blackfire moved in closer and looked into his eyes, "Do I look like I care?"

"Good point." Alex said, as he closed the distance as quickly as could he manage.

Blackfire could've reached him from this distance, but she wanted to make him show the initiative. Alex couldn't actually bring himself to keep his eyes open, and he knew that he had found pulled it off only after feeling her lips against his own. _What the hell… Why was I scared of this? Wait, now that is… odd… _

Blackfire tried not to jump out of pleasant surprise as he kissed. Before he pulled back, she opened her mouth a little, trying to give him the idea. When he figured it out, she floated a bit, literally. _Dose he know how good a kisser he is? Total natural, Shit… lets see what else I can tech him…_

Alex had figured out he liked kissing by now, so was goanna let this one go as long as he could. When he felt something moving, against his lips and teeth, he knew she what she was asking for. _Whoa, aren't we going a bit fast here?? _Alex didn't even finish that tough before answering her request. _Oh my God… _He shuttered as something snapped in him, and he pulled back, gasping "Holy Shit!", rather loudly, in fact.

"What's wrong?", Blackfire asked, face a little flushed, "You where doing fine… more than fine, actually…"

"Uh… Blackfire, you just cracked a floodgate I didn't know I had, if we go much more, that will break. I have no idea if I can stop, if we start again…", Alex said, more than a little jittery, "I feel like a teenager at After-Prom, for God's sake. I'm sorry…"

"I don't need an apology, I knew what I was getting into, and I appreciate you going out of comfort zone a little… see, it's not that bad… You wanna head off to bed?" B asked, nodding at the door, but hoping for something else.

"Yeah, I'd better…" he said with a smile. _Okay, I think she wants me to stay, but dose she want me to ask? Well, here goes… _"Hey… Sweetheart… Do you want me to stay here? I will, if you want… "

"I was hoping you would, but after I yelled at you, well, didn't hold much hope… You sure you okay with it? I am not making you," Blackfire said, trying to keep her voice level, "but I would like it, _very much…" _

_Sweet… okay, now, breath _"Where do you want me to sleep?" Alex asked uselessly, as he turned out the amber light in the room, leaving only the predawn blue in the space. Blackfire just moved closer to the wall, not her preferred place, but she wanted to give him the easier to exit side. "Here's okay with me."

"No, love, we have been in the same tent ten dozens of times by now," Alex said quietly, as he sat at her bed, "You don't like to be blocked in. I will take the wall side, or we move this thing to the middle… I ain't going anywhere, so exits don't matter"

Blackfire complied, but did relish in the opportunity to make him move _over_ her to get in, he flashed her a knowing look. "See? No problem." he said as he drifted off. She curled around him, making Alex react naturally, though it still took him by surprise. He wrapped his arms around his girlfriend. _I will never sleep alone again, if I have anything to say about it… _

"You want to?" B said in a low, seductive voice, "I don't mind, at all."

"Nah, let me get used to this part first. I've never done this before…" Alex said, feeling a little nevus still.

"Neither have I… If you want to go farther, you know where to find me" she said with a smile

Four hours later.

Robin looked at the sunrise with disdain, "Cyborg, who is in charge of the titans, those two are apparently off limits…"

Cyborg said, "You, until Blackfire comes out… No Commonwealth, yet. So I'd say, get some sleep, you might get company, if you want it. I saw a certain someone waiting in your quarters."

"Fine, I need to apologize to her, anyway… " Robin sighed, "where is it?"

"Door right across from the one with a chair under the latch…"

Robin's eyebrows went up, "BB got pissed off?"

"No, but he did get 'creative' with the advisors…"

Robin now laughed, "That is truly cruel… First thing he has done that's any funny."

"And he like's repeating jokes, be careful what you wish for, boss!" BB said, now walking in.

Robin went up to his room, thinking to remove the chair, but when he saw Starfire's look, he forgot about it. "Hey Star… listen, can we talk?"

"Unless you are here to apologize, get out…" She said in a dull tone. Star was very happy to see him, but did not want to make it that easy.

"I'm sorry, Star, I really am… I know what I said was wrong, but I said it anyway, and I have no excuse…" Robin said, falling to his knees, "I never want anything to happen to you, ever…"

"What makes you think I believe you?" Star said, having trouble controlling herself, but wanting to see him sweat it out, she had already forgiven him the moment he walked in.

"I wasn't asking you too, I would understand if you don't want to. But, I love you Star, and I swear, with the last breath in me, you won't ever by hurt. By me, especially." Robin cried, "I'm sorry…"

"Robin, what you said hurt… but I forgive you." Star said, dropping to her knees also, and pulled his now wet mask off. She whispered into his ear. "I love you, too, Richard.."

Robin warmed at the use of his real name, which only she knew. "I will not go that long without seeing you, ever again."

Star smiled, "It was only a few hours…"

Robin took her face in his hands, "No, baby, it was a lifetime"

Star was done talking, she brought her lips to his. Robin got the idea, and moved her onto his lap, moving kisses down her neck. He brought his hands to the top of her outfit, doing his best to ask for permission. Star noticed him stop, and gave him the okay with a smile and nod. The Boy Wonder needed no more signals, and unfastened the clasps on her top. She felt her heart pound she unbuttoned his shirt, stopping only long enough to help him with her own.

Robin brought her back to his lips as he picked her up. "I think the bed is better, don't you agree?" he said with a devilish grin. Watching her eyes glow with pleasure as his hand crept up her leg.

"Y-yes, I do…Robin! " Star gasped as a hand went under her skirt, "Don't stop, please"

Robin started with her skirt, all while looking for fresh skin to taste. Star made quick work of his pants and boxers, pulling down both with one yank

"Whoa, easy, girl!" Robin said

"…No…." Starfire said, tossing him on his back, "I have no desire to be 'easy' on you, Robin."

'O-Okay…" Robin said meekly, "Just what do you have in mind, Starfire…"

Starfire just smiled and went to work on Robin's lower half, making him have to hold his breath to keeping from screaming her name at the top of lungs. After a few minutes, the man was practically shaking with need, and Star knew it. With an evil grin, Star pulled the knots her bottom, while Robin took care of her bra. She grabbed his hands, and pinned his arms down.

"What now!? I think am goanna explode, Star!"

"Pertinence, my love, I'm not ready to let have your way just yet, I have plans for you!" Star murmured, beginning to move back and forth on Robin's stomach. She smiled at seeing him pant with desperation. When she felt the flame in her core begin to reach a peak, she let go of his wrists, switching her grip to his shoulders expectantly. Star winced at the brief pain at his slightly off entrance. Star adjusted her hips to make it more comfortable, and gasped loudly as he quickly picked up his pace.

"Star, oh ,Star!", Robin cried, loud enough that BB jumped, and not a few Marines stopped mid sentence. Even Raven heard while it in her meditations, snapping her out of focus just in time to fall to the ground.

He grabbed her waist, and switched, Star now was on her back, letting lose an occasional cry. Robin lasted another 2 minutes or so, then collapsed at her side. "I love you, Starfire"

"I love you, too, Robin"

Alex awoke to pleasured screaming, and violet hair in his face. _What the fuck, where am I?…. Oh yeah, I shacked with Blackfire, so warm…. Hey was that-Oh my God, how disgusting… I can't fault them, but shit, this place echoes…. _"B? are you awake?", he asked, trying to remain calm.

He felt her stir, then start to shake. Blackfire started to giggle, "Unfortunately… I am glad we didn't, not in here. Seriously, the outdoors would've been more private… they're fucking in a megaphone…"

Alex stated to laugh out loud, and covered his hand with his mouth, "We gotta do something!"

Blackfire just looked at him for a second, and said, "No, just leave 'em, the Marines are being entertained…"

"Damn, oh well, I am goanna walk out, so you can change, we don't need a similar incident in here. The maries have had enough fun already, I'm sure…" Alex said as he went to open the door, "Uh, control, we have a broken doorknob…"

"Uh-huh…" Blackfire said, now a little shy in the daylight.

"Try it!" Alex said, a little put off.

She did, and to no avail, "OK….Sorry… This isn't good… Face the door, if you turn, I kill you! It was one thing in the dark. Yeah, you can see in the dark, but it's one of my things, though…"

"Understood. Now, how do we get out, kick-"

"No, just follow orders, first. I will not leave this room in pink PJ's, the badass rep I've got would be gone."

"Kay…" Alex said as he turned toward the door, "What if we had done more the watch our eyelids, though… then what?"

Blackfire shot him a look he should've seen right his own skull. "I'd do what every other girl dose, get up before your spent ass, then… be dressed and awake to see it exit my bed."

"We males must have 50 page booklets ya'll get at birth…" Alex sighed as he stared at the stubborn door.

"Nah, honey, we get a tag with 2 sides. One side says 'feed and water daily', the other says 'pull to start… I'm sorry, that was mean…"

"Yeah it was…" Alex said, trying not to giggle, "It's a tag, sure, but you forgot the fine print…"

"When priming is necessary, kiss first…."

Alex couldn't help it, giggling, he said, "That is great, just great! I deserve a peek for that!"

Blackfire sighed, "Fine!"

Alex snapped around to find her fully dressed in an outfit resembling the one she had on when he met her. The silver was replaced by a reflective smoke-black, the skirt and top where a matching shade of reflective navy as Alex's own uniform, with gray edging. Over that she had a matt black cape that went to her boots, the charcoal inside suited to show off her curves. Even her sidearm holsters was sexy, locked to her thighs, instead of the normal hip arrangement. From head, to perfectly polished boots, definitely not regulation, not bad looking, either.

"Do you like it?"

Alex, "Hell yes, where did-"

"You can thank your sisters for the fashion advice. I liked it as soon as the showed it to me, glad you like it, too."

"We might have to leash BB… I 'd hate for Rea to kill him before me… " Alex said, now in eye candy heaven.

"No, lock him up, blindfold and starve him, then leash him, I don't want drool on these shoes…"

Alex laughed, "Now to get out of here… "

They hopped out of the window, and made it to Alex's room without incident

"thanks, hey I have an idea, let me change…"

BB went upstairs to let the lovebirds out, snickering as he moved the chair, and cracked the door open… Only a pink set of PJ's where on the floor, nothing out of the ordinary, except for Alex's jacket. BB gasped. "Damn… Mission _Fucking _Accomplished! Cy will think I am-"

"Stupid… Having fun eavesdropping?" Blackfire said as she grabbed him from behind, "Honey, we have a spy…"

Alex, a second later, entered, with Freelancer drawn. "What do you want to do?"

"Guys, I was only goanna wake you up-"

"Shut up! If you had not had the audacity to put a chair in front of her door, I would not haven been trapped, so you would not be in quite as much trouble…. Downstairs!"

BB was terrified. "I'm sorry, I am!"

"BB, fortunately for you, B can fly… otherwise I would have killed you….." Alex hissed

"Wait! That wasn't r-"

"Yes, it was. The Titans are not to know." Blackfire said, in a low voice just over a whisper, "We did not actually _do_ anything… But they don't need proof, for the accusations we would get…"

"Man, what a waste… didn't even share a rack, did ya? Star's goanna-"

Blackfire balled a fist, and Alex had to grab her hand, "Who else was involved? Tell me, or I let her hit you."

"Everyone, even the Delta guy who took night shift. but you did-"

"I know, not you, I know… why to they even care!? Arrgh, not that I minded the out-"

"Shut up!…" Blackfire said, "Star won't let it be… I prefer my love life to remain private, until such time as I announce it…"

Alex just rolled his eyes, making B jab him in the gut, hard.

"Girl, We already know! I mean you passed out on his _lap_, if that isn't a pubic announcement, I don't know what is. You racked together, whoop-de-fucking-do. Rae and I do, so… Birdie Boy and Shootin' Star do even more, but that is a secrete, no one is supposed to know… " BB said in a cheeky tone.

"Let them dream, they are as discrete as an exploding hand-grenade, 'bout as noisy, too…." Alex said, with an edge of irritation in his voice.

Going down the old steps, the trio walked into the main storage area-turned barracks. Clamor and giggles could be heard, and not a few belly laughs. The mood was light, at Robin's and Star's expense, Not that Alex or B mined that at all. It was a whole sight better then it being at _their_ expanse. Trying to get back to business, the two split off to get a situation update. Found the Commonwealth still hadn't seemed to notice. Alex did find this very odd, and asked the marines to double patrols.

Some sixty miles away, a lone Commonwealth soldier makes his way into a shot up TV station, looking around for the controls to the lights. He found that , like every other building on this world, a simple switch operated them. When he got to one that was a bit too stiff, he just hit it with the butt of his sidearm, never noticing if that even worked or not. The C-4 that had been wired into the structure of the building lifted the whole thing right off of its foundation. The comms dish, antenna, and garage where also vaporized, along with ten or so vehicles in the garage and parking lot.

"these damn resistance fighters are becoming a serious problem, I want 2 battalions of troops marching by noon, searching for their makeshift base, when they find it, they are to wait for air and armor backup." The Commonwealth General in charge said.

"Yes sir!"

Several hours later, dinner was interrupted by bad news, the enemy was on the move, and they where heading straight for them. two battalions of ground troops, and around 800 tanks and ground fighting vehicles where on their way. Air cover was also a concern. With help still 5 days away, Alex wondered if they're was any chance in hell that they could hold the Commonwealth off for any length of time.

"Great, guess the fun's over…" Robin sighed, "Goanna be a long week…"

"We have a man on the radio, if we hear anything, we will let you know" the Marine Cornel said, "We just hope that this LFC is good for it, otherwise we'll have another fucking Alamo"

Alex glared, but shared the sentiment.

--

This chapter was a pain in the butt. Just can't get it to sound right….oh well, I wanna move on, so there you have it

Note I had to fix this twice…..sigh


	6. Salvation

(okay, I sumbled accross this fanfic after a HUGE bout of writers block, one that damn near knocked me out of out fanfiction forever, yes, It's been two years, but I'm back!)

* * *

:Chapter 3: Salvation

2:30 Local time- Jump city warehouse district

Robin helped install machine guns in every place that could hold one. In the last 2 hours another 150 freedom fighters had joined the professional forces stationed in the warehouse. The newcomers where more than happy to help, sometimes getting on his nerves. Alex, the one considered "in charge" for the moment, got on his nerves, too. Robin found it was just easier to stay away from him, then try to butt heads. What bothered him though, is how all of the team took orders from him so easily.

Alex ran though a checklist of things to make sure of before lunch. There where 40 men outside placing M14, M15, and M16 mines all around the parameter. Robin was doing a fine job with the gun emplacements. Beast Boy was finally working without any pain, and was well on his way to making up for it. Cy was always productive. Even Starfire, who despised firearms, had taken the suggestion of her sister on arming herself. The only one missing was Raven, and as Robin and Star explained, she had to keep from the commotion.

Walking into the main room, he saw the Marines tipping up tables and the like as barriers. One of them approached Alex, and asked for the status of the Vanquish. Alex wasn't sure, but she could not be more than a day or so out. When he told the Solder this, that seemed to suffice. Alex looked nervously out of the window, he felt like he could almost see the face of the men marching towards them. That was a feeling he had come to hate…

Raven had found it very difficult to meditate, with all of the commotion going on. Beast Boy was the only one who seemed content on leaving her be. Alex, Robin, and even Cy where happy to break her concentration. When she finally had a grip on her emotions, she stretched out her senses. Feeling a huge _hole_ in the world, like a empty spot where her powers could not go. Raven had felt this only once before, about 2 hours before the 2 advisors landed on Earth. She hadn't put the 2 and 2 together before, but It was certainly worth checking into. Raven found Blackfire, and told her about the feeling.

"That might not be a coincidence; Thanks for letting me know.", B said, not knowing what to make of that, they where told a Jumper wasn't available. So either they got one after all, or the enemy had them now, too. She prayed it was the former. Blackfire rubbed her hands together nervously, trying to figure out whether to tell Alex…

Star looked out to the fields surrounding the warehouse, peering in the distance to see if anything had changed in the last hour. Adjusting the strap on the rifle her sister had given her for the fiftieth time, she peered behind her for a second . Star saw a shimmer about thirty feet in front of her, like looking at the sky through very clear glass. The object floated directly overhead, and as Star swung the gun to her shoulder, four small fighters about the size of Alex's Micro-Jet appeared out of the sides of the object. They immediately folded up onto the back of their pilots. Star had no idea what was going on, so she let out scream, and fired at the first man's face. To her dismay, he hopped out of the way in a flash, and 2 more where on top of her. Star learned a move from Blackfire in the few weeks leading up to this, and used it now. Using her ability to fly, she pivoted mid-air against the two holding her shoulders, putting her feet in their faceplates, and sending them back a few feet. Then, with the two flying attackers as a lunch pad, Star hurtled into the fourth warrior. Blackfire ran at the sound of shooting, along with Alex and Robin. They stared in shock As an enraged Starfire proceeded to deal out a can to four of Alex's kin… Alex had to dodge out of the way as a suited suit that looked kinda like Kristen got thrown.

"Hold on! Kristen! What in Hell ar you doing here!" Alex asked, confused…

"Sure not here to get beat up by your manner-less Tamorainian guard!"

At that, the Skill-Warriors took off their helmets. "Well, a Phoenix Family Reunion…"

Alex shock was interrupted by Backfire's rather girly squeal, "Steve! Yay! I'm Soo happy to see you! Hey Sara, Kristen… I thought you two where on the _Storm_…"

"Transferred, We borrowed the Jumper… in speaking of, we've got presents… for the commonwealth, in the ship. Get some guys to help us unpack, so said ship can leave."

"Yeah!" B said, as she zipped off

Robin was at a loss, and so was Star, for that matter. They looked the Alex for an explanation.

"Okay, in the Phoenix Family Symphony of Domestic Dysfunction, my Sisters here play the violin. And this guy is Steve, My father. AKA. The conductor of this silly madness "

"What dose _my _sister play?" Starfire asked, not getting the joke quite.

"The Kazoo" Steve said, not missing a beat while pointing out to the west, "We'd better get ready, here they come…"

"Shit, Dad, your in charge. Robin, talk with you team, to see what they want to do." Alex said, instantly going to business mode.

"Yeah…"

"Son, what preparations have we here?"

"Enough guns to take a district of our home town, and keep it for a month, but not that much ammo. We've got bounding , AP and Anti-armor mines littering the field around us. We've also got fifty guys with stingers ready to fend off any SAV assaults. They are not using radio or loudspeakers, so we didn't even know when they would show up."

"Great… We've got ten crates of ammo, 45 MR-840 Assault rifles. And four Scorpion launchers."

"We're screwed without the V, where is she?"

"Another week, Surprise assault from the fleet moving away from here took out several engines. The rest of the fleet will be here sooner. We where all that could be spared at the moment."

"Glad to have you here, at least…. We take on as many as we can, it's all we can do…"

The Commander of the US forces looked at the Skill-Warriors with understandable skepticism, having never seen one in action before. "Robin. Are these 'Skill' Warriors as good as they put themselves up to be? Lives are at stake here, I don't want posers on my front lines."

"Trust me, you won't be disappointed. One is a match for Starfire or B, when they use their powers. Five…Shit…." Robin said, Remembering Alex's impressive display of firepower.

"Doesn't the enemy have them too?" The commander said.

"Well, that means our friends will be occupied for a little while." Robin, "I hope they don't have a platoon of them."

"Incoming!", one Marine shouted, as the wall in front of him disintegrated in flames.

The warehouse's west wall was shredded in a matter of seconds. Watching in horror, Raven put up a shield in front of the now exposed army. Moving behind tables and pop-up barricades , the marines waited until the marching army fell within range. A few Marines where hurt, and the medics ran into the line of fire to try and help them. Robin and 2 other marines used a small, portable mortar. Even Raven's sore boyfriend was dropping Commie troops with an M-14 rifle.

Star used Starbolts first, only to find that the enemy had that blasted energy resistant armor on. Gulping, she pulled the charging handle on her AR-15, held it to check for brass, then released it. The snap of the closing action almost startled her, but she brushed those feelings aside. She sighted in the closest enemy, and squeezed the trigger. When nothing happed , she cursed loud enough for the Marines to hear. Why did she have to get the broken one? When the Marine next to her tapped the side of his gun, she remembered the step she had forgotten: The Safety. _Damn guns…_

Blackfire emptied another clip, and paused just long enough to find another one. As she cocked the LFC assault rifle, the first landmine went off, making the whole column go still and drop to the ground. They where much tougher targets now, and the sound of incoming rail-gun fire increased even more. When there was a lull, five Micro-Jets blasted right out of the hole in the wall. B just watched as fleeing troops where shredded by missiles and gunfire.

Raven had taken to the barriers like everyone else, trying to shield the men as best she could from the incoming fire. BB fell back to her barrier for a few, "How are holding, babe?"

"I'm doin' ok, I wanna see that air come in, though." BB said, already tired, and it hadn't been an hour yet.

Alex fired his last missile into the Comms truck at the rear of the column. Dodging the resulting fireball. He called out "Winchester! Goin' to the deck!"

"Roger, I'll assist as soon as I'm out." Sara yelled as she unloaded 2 more rockets into the oncoming force. She banked the little plane over the left, and peppered several troop carriers with bullets. Rolling to avoid a SAM fired from a Commonwealth troop ship, she screamed, "Need support, Alex!"

Alex had already turned towards the vehicle the moment he heard the telltale hiss of a rocket launch. He called up a Fire Lancer, and vaporized the Troop carrier. Unhooking the Micro-jet, he pulled out his heavy sword, and went to work hacking away as fast as he could. One by one, the Phoenix family joined him on the ground. Soon the Titans and Blackfire joined in the fray was well, their blows going toe to toe with their alien counterparts…

Robin was worried that one of them would peg a land mine that this rate. He tried to keep track of them all, but so found more than plenty to deal with on his own. He disarmed several baddies with a single swipe of his staff, and kicked another in the face. At this point, Robin felt a powerful yank on his cape, and went sailing though the air. He watched a beefy solder with fiery red eyes pick him up, and tossed him towards the mines.

Robin landed with one foot on an anti tank mine. Fortunately, it didn't go off, and the skill user didn't see it. Star grabbed his hand just as the warrior triggered it with a hard drop-kick, aiming for Robin's foot. The blast set of several more, And Star and Robin had to fly straight into the air to avoid the shrapnel. As they turned, they saw the enemy make a running advance, despite the mines. Almost half where cut down before the they got within shotgun range. But the half that did made up for it.

BB and Raven passed the order to fall back to the second line of barricades. BB grabbed Alex's AA-12 shotgun, pulled the handle back, and held the trigger. A stream of buckshot alternating with FRAG-12 twelve-gauge grenades. Raven had to hold her ears. When the 8 shells in the box mag where spent . BB grabbed a drum and ran. Raven used her power the hold a dozen rifles at head level, with triggers squeezed.

"Rebels got powers, over, requesting Skill assistance.", one Soldier said.

"None remaining, all Skill users terminated" the voice on the other end called, although only Cyborg heard it, as the man's ears (and head) where not in for the job after Cy hit him. Cy, called in for support on the warehouse's radio, hoping that some other military units where in range. When that failed, he joined the battle, sonic cannon blazing.

12 hours later..

Alex dodged a tracer round, and beheaded the shooter with a backhanded swing. In the same twist, he empted a clip into a platoon of men running toward him with his off hand. Sara and Kristen where having a time of it themselves, not trained in combat nearly as much as B And Alex where. Alex had to keep a eye on Sara, and B had look out for Kristen. Poor Steve had to watch theirs. Robin and Star where still helping, at least, as Cy had to stop and recharge while Rea took his place. BB was too whipped to be any good.

The marines had pushed back the advance of troops to the remains of the west wall. The marine Commander ordered some troops kept in reserves to switch out with those in it the longest. Some of the Delta guys took it upon themselves to charge into the formation, guns blazing and knives flashing. Two Army Rangers kept it up with the mortar. One well placed shot removed fifteen more of the threat.

BB ran back to the line after getting a few hours sleep. Not finding Rae, he moved to the wall, and grabbed an M16, cocking the gun. BB ran to the line, and started to open fire on the remaining Commonwealth troops. When his last clip was empty, BB changed into a cheetah . Running into the retreating mass, BB switched forms for a T-Rex, and began to wreak havoc on the battlefield. Rea joined in, and the two took down the enemy in droves.

Alex spun his sword behind him, cutting the arms off of the guy holding onto his shoulders. The man screamed briefly before passing out from blood loss. Alex threw his boot knife into some other guys chest. As he turned to see his father take a grenade to the chest. The armor protected him, although it did knock him on his back. Alex's cousin cut down the attacker, and cleared an exhausted Robin's back. Alex called for a retreat. "Fall Back!"

Steven wordlessly called a Southern Cross to his hand, launching it between his feet. Robin and Alex helped him to his feet. Star, Robin, and the Skill-Warriors formed a line as they backpedaled, unleashing blast after blast of energy. Starfire could not summon the strength to use a Starbolt, as the light of day was just returning the field.

Once inside, the team finally had the opportunity to catch a breath. Robin looked at Alex with a frown, "Where's you fleet?"

"Don't know…" Alex pants, burned out, "Damn happy when they get here though…"

Blackfire and Starfire walked up to the table the two men where sitting at, their faces blank with exhaustion. Each practically fell against their respective male. Alexander and Robin looked to each other, and both had to stifle a grin. No matter how dire the situation, having a sleepy girlfriend leaning on your shoulder is cool. Rae and BB joined the group, sitting by the others. The whole group just sat there for a time, not wanting to fall asleep, lest they be needed somewhere. Not likely possible, either, with the sounds of gunfire echoing though the building.

Alex was the first to nod off where he sat, soon followed by BB, and Robin. Those that stayed awake heard the shots calm down, a dead silence filling the space. Not wanting to take ant chances. Blackfire took it upon herself to check in with whomever was in charge at the moment. She found out that the enemy was in shock from the leveling of their Skill users, in fact they had pulled back three miles just to regroup, well, at least that gave them a chance to figure out where they stood.

She relayed to her sister before almost falling in a dead heap on the floor, save only for a few kind army privates who caught her, and set her down on a bench in what became the triage of the warehouse. She was out cold even before the soldiers turned to other matters. Alex managed to find her, having gotten a few hours sleep himself. He picked B up, carrying her to her room, and sitting by her bedside for awhile. As she finally awoke, "Morning, beautiful, or evening, as I should say…"

"You let me sleep that long?" She asked in a half asleep tone, "But the others-"

"Have gotten as much sleep as you… No commie movement, they think we have a platoon of skill users in here, and they are clueless as to what to do about it. They have us surrounded, but won't come within three and a half kilometers or so of the kill-zone."

"I like it when the Commies are confused… What about the rest of the planet?"

"Not a damn clue, no word from fleet either… Taking their sweet time, they are…"

"They always do…" Blackfire sighed, "God forbid they run out of ice cream…"

Alex let out a giggle at that, "Oh, the humanity… Hey, Imma check out what the patrol we sent out an hour ago has. Gotta play general for awhile…"

"Be down in a bit, gotta change…" Blackfire said, already tired, though it hardly registered, she had been that way for years. "Going AWOL and saving the world blindfolded as well, might have to pack a lunch…"

"You do that, and in speaking of lunch, we have some cold food downstairs, get some." Ales said as he rose.

"Is that an order, Sir?" She smirked

"If you ever wanna get any closer then this, yes…" he said as he headed for the door.

"Done yesterday, then…."

The door opened with a creak, "I like a punctual woman…"

Blackfire just snorted, "At least that makes one of us punctual, then…"

Cyborg had been at it all day, and all night as well, for that matter… "This is Unit Sk-626, calling all Legion Ships or personnel, requesting sit-rep on inbound heavies to my location, over…. Do you copy, over." This was pointless, not a single response, not even a blip, almost 5 hours in this sitting alone. He tried a few different frequencies, and finally got a break.

"Sk-62-… did not-… you last, please repeat, code one-alpha."

Cy changed codes, now totally focused in the moment. "SK-626 requesting sit-rep for Heavy Extraction, OVER!"

"Roger, '26, this is Flight BJ-One Alpha two seven Romeo, inbound, relaying message stand by…. 26 good news! Big Mamma is inbound, ETA is zero six hours, flight redirected to open road to the LZ… give us some music…."

"MUSIC ON THE WAY! TWO SIX OUT!" Cy shouted, running into the main room, "ET phone home! the heat is coming, ETA six hours!"

"Excellent! Commander, prep the wounded, this will likely be a moving taxi, if you take my meaning…" Steven said, looking at Alex, "Your team got the call through.."

"BJ-1A-27-R is goanna cover us, we need to light a target for them."

Alex grinned, "Black Jets… Let's go show them the door…"

Starfire look a little puzzled, "Black jets? Like your little one?" Robin matched her gaze for once, what dose the color of a vehicle do for it's combat effectiveness, anyway?

"The name of the LFC's advanced fighter program, each one is capable of flying on it's own, and can knock a battle frigate out of action by itself… a flight is 10 planes… Most likely sent on patrol to check for reinforcements… And yes, they are jet black, forgive the pun, try shooting at a black ship in the middle of space." Steve needlessly elaborated

"And they look SCARY to the enemy." Alex added to the usless banter, "Dad, buy me one-no… _Two, yessss_", making Blackfire snort

"You would make me ride in my own, not with you?" she said, teasing, and tesing his response.

"Oh, I didn't want to leave you out, if you'd rather ride with me, then, I can have dad get a trainer for mine, so you can choose."

Steve rolled his eyes, Robin smirked in a way only a guy could. BB had _nicely played _written on his face in all but bold print. Alex dared a proud grin, yes, he was catching on (in his mind, anyway)

Starfire looked at them, "Well, they don't know where to hi t, right? So lets go, already…", to that the two Tamerainan girls bolted into the sky, followed (via grip on a convenient limb) by the male counterparts.

Alex clung for dear life, and realized they had one little snag, "What in hells bells do we use for a fucking BEACON!"

B cursed in her guttural tongue, "Damnit all! Think of something?"

Starfire looked to Robin, "Our radios!" she shouted, enemy fire buzzing by them at a dizzying rate, she called for BB and Rae to get thiers to the other 'sides' of the box that the Commonwealth had made, Alex blinked, and held his breath once they landed, dropped the transmitter, then leapt on Blackfire's back like a scared cat, waiting for the girl to take off (making her hiss about leaving him here, if he did that with armor on again)

"Cy, turn off you radio!, we are giving them to the flight coming in!" Robin shouted, taking Alex idea, and riding on Star's back instead. The four made good their escape just as the tanks rolled in..

4 minutes later:

Cyborg saw the sleek blurs pass overhead, his robotic vision clearly making out the shape of the fighters as they took a bomb-less check-pass. They looked gorgeous, and not entirely from the aid they where bringing the besieged group. The lines were not unlike that of F15, but with harder angles, almost like some of the newer stealth planes he saw on the science stations. Behind each, a 150 foot long trail of blue hot exhaust gasses, and a deafening roar that sounded a half screech. Alex was right, Cy was scared shitless at that sound.

BB held his ears, and Rea was huddled onto his lap in a featal position, Star was in a similar boat, huddling with Robin. One of the Air Force guys scream, though futile "what in God's holy name kind of engine made that kind of racket1?", going as slow as they where going. He never did get his answer. The next pass, done regardless of frantic enemy fire, was the kill strike, the fighters had relayed the exact coordinates to the fleet, and where given clearance to fire at will.

The unholy thunder of cluster bombs rocked the flimsy structure, and any order held in it's walls went to hell right with the attacking force, screams of various curses in a few various tongues lashed out. Alex HATED danger close bomb drops, with a passion, and he had many a stray bomblet to thank for that fear. One did stray too close to the warehouse, and the blast caused the whole building to shudder, Alexander Phoenix watched in terror as a heavy I-beam came crashing down over the heads of a few solders. Knocking it aside as gently as he could, the man took the I-beam's weight with his own head (fortunately, he did have his flight helmet still on, and later thought that this little detail, and what followed, saved his foolish life).

Blackfire screamed, and went to the marines, who, along with half of the platoon, where lifting the girder off of the stricken man, "Don't touch his helmet!" Kristen and Sara shouted, nodding to each other, with silent glances. They where worried that the headgear was likely the only thing holding his skull together, "Can you hear us?" one of them, Alex couldn't tell who, said.

The blue eyed human blinked, glow from his eyes dim and focused, "Get out, now.." he was half dead, half delirious. Then he did something that shocked everyone in the room that was there to hear it, despite the war going on a few feet outside, with engine flares in the distance shining in his vision, "B-…Blackie?…", he called, "Come here…" his head hurt, a lot, but he had to say what he had to say to her face, if it was his last breath.

The young woman was at his side already, "I'm here, help is on the way" she said, looking up to his family with a guilt stricken face. All she got in return was numb stares for a moment. Star understood in an instant was going on, and get her sister as much privacy as they could, they only ones that wouldn't leave where his family, not that she'd dare ask.

"W-When I get stitched up?… C-can I-I.. move you into my room?" Alex asked, making his father and sisters blink despite themselves. "Course, You'd have to change your name, though, I-.. Cant think-of a better person to spend the rest of my life with" _even if it was only a few minutes, thought he was talking to keep himself awake._

"Oh my God…" Blackfire squeaked, more worried about his immediate health then their relationship, at the moment. "If you promise not to call me pet names, or suck face in public…" she said, trying to keep him in up spirits, "Then yes… If that's what you're asking" The old her would have choked to death on her own spit had she seen this… To hell with the 'old her', let the bitch rot…

Alex grinned, "Y-Yay… W-Who wants to tell the family? The ones we complain about every morning." he coughed out, buy now his kin had caught on to the goal of the chatter, to keep Alex from passing out. They happily chimed in, "We'll have to draw straws, that's a pleasure worth a few pillow fights over." his dad said, trying not to be somber.

Robin and the Titans watched as the retreating enemy column was mowed down by aerial assault. Troops in crisp, blue jumpsuits dropped in, and covered the marines on their way onto strange landing craft. As the last few ships launched under heavy covering fire, the Titans made good their exit. Robin helped Cy and BB aboard one of the dropships, before hopping to the ground to help carry Alex to the craft.

Alex lay perfectly still, holding back the tears that threatened to tear him apart, his was in some real pain. He stayed quiet as the medics, scanned him, carefully taking the helmet off, and setting a more proper neck and skull brace up as the ship ascended. He looked over as his Girl-well, now that he thought about it, his fiancée… He smiled to think about that, and outright grinned at another image that poised in his mind.

The two medics helping his sister's care for the Skill-Warrior had odd looks on their faces, they must've written it off to the powerful meds taking effect, as they said nothing. Tough Robin and Blackfire gathered his train of thought, making the former almost sigh at the sheer madness that was their lives. "Oh, don't worry too much, dad" Blackfire said, blinking once at hearing herself say that, _right, whatever_, she thought. "I think he'll be fine…." she said, looking down, with the big peering eyes pleading that to be true. Alex now knew what it was that spoke so many volumes to him, that look he was getting now was not a look he'd seen in damn near 4 years, and it felt like a whole lot more. It was that expression, that lost-longing look that screamed 'I'm not ready to die' the first time he saw it, now seeming to say 'I'm not ready to be alone again.'

Alex wouldn't stand to see that look on her face, "I'll be fine, I swear to you, love." he coughed, blinking as he asked, "Where is the V?"

"Right outside the window.." Blackfire said, face softening to one of slight relief, "We're home."

-ship _Vanquish _: 1350 hours ship time two weeks later

The Vanquish's epic scale was not truly grasped from outside until one had a good size comparison, the best guess Robin could fathom was the death star, sans this was a ship on equal scale, in not a little larger. What a government needed with a gas hogging, throwing dart of the stars ship for, he could not tell. The 'wings' alone where ten miles longer then the _island of Cuba_, it hurt his head to boggle such thoughts. the main mass of the ship sat in a elongated spearhead bolted to the blocky engines, with wings on wither side. When he questions the pilot on just what those useless additions where for (noting that there was no way in hell you can land a 11,000 kilometer ship on anything without causing some extinction level event) he was told that they helped cool the ship during the rather risky refueling process. The pilot of the shuttle explained that the ship can gas up at any star with a black hole siphoning gasses from it, the ship sets an orbit just out side the acceleration disk of the hole, and useless magnetic funnels to pump in the reactant.

The boy wonder shook his head, not getting the point. Finally, the ever more curious Starfire asked, "Why do you need a ship as big as a small moon? Don't you have planets?" she asked, not in an insulting tone, just dumbfounded

"Yes, ma'am, we have many… That ship was made to replace our capital, should it ever be-… destroyed" the pilot said, looking down a bit. "Called Continuation Of Government, COG for short, not unlike your NORAD's secondary function"

"When I look at this ship, sir, I can't imagine such a terrible thing. You all work together.. All I see of the Commonwealth is greed… I don't think they can get close to this… It's pretty, in an odd sort of way…" Starfire said simply, matching Robin's nod

"Heh, she's that, I agree… We use her for diplomacy, mostly cause she's got range that other ship's can't match.. Makes a statement to the dedication to those spending their whole lives building her, good for making peaceful arrangements, I'd wager, shows what we've accomplished… makes one hell of a gunboat, forbid we have to digress to gunboat diplomacy… or if we are hopelessly bored, and want to mine for gold in asteroids… the fun way.." the Pilot said

Robin and Star where on their second, and last, trip to the starship, the first one was primarily occupied with the sad after tasks of war, dealing with injuries, being lost, and any free time wondering what had happed to Blackfire and Alex. The two where escorted to some private med wing for treatment, and it was driving the Titans nuts not to know what happened (and be there for Blackfire, in any case) Robin rubbed the back of Star's head a little, making her mrr and sigh a little.

The pilot looked over with a smile, if a bit lost, all of the sudden, and Robin saw the glint in his eyes that denoted he was part of Alex's personal unit, and thus a Skill-User.

"Sorry." was all Robin said, followed by Star's at first confused gauze, then drop as she realized what Robin had noticed. "Oh. We shouldn't have been hanging over each other like that, sorry…"

The other man shook his head, "Don't be, Ain't your fault…. " he looked to Robin, "You wanna make it up to me, hell, the whole lot of us?"

"Anything" Robin said, perplexed.

"Don't let her get out of you sight, she's a keeper, got brains, and looks, if I might be so bold. Most of us have come to terms with our powers, good…" he shurgs, "and not so good. What really pisses us off, is to see a good thing go to waste." he said, "But, from the looks of it, you've got nothing to worry about"

Robin grinned, and Star floated over to the pilot, hugged and kissed him on the cheek, making the hapless lieutenant blush, "You find someone…" she said. Robin blinked, and felt not put off at all, though he did feel for the dude driving, he looked really shitfaced

"Thanks, I sure hope I do…" he giggled, "Though You, my dear miss, have given me the neatest moment of my tour." he said, and at that, just had a nice grin on his face, making Robin glad for the few lucky ones like Alex who got to have that…

Then something crazy Robin's head, "Apparently, your whole race is safe from Skill powers, when and if you decide with the LFC to start up some trade, welcome the newcomers with flowers and hugs, that'd definitely make a few fond memories." he said with a giggle.

"I'd take a whole tour of latrine duty to get a hug for a pack of cute local girls, and two more like it to have a camera for the priceless looks on the faces of my unit…" the young man laughed, followed in fits by his two passengers. They spent the hour in the traffic pattern giggling about it.

Med wing Charlie Level - 425: 22:30

Alex's eyes blinked open, he knew he was better then when they landed, because he ached, aches and pains meant he needed no heavy sedation. The Skill user's eyes kicked up a notch, filling the room in grey tones, almost like a crappy pair of LED lights where sitting in his eyes, though other then the small glow of blue iris-light, the room was pitch black. Alex's hearing was sharp as a tack, leaving him to guess that at least one ear had to be replaced with a new one, because he couldn't hear much of the low tones after years of fighting. What he heard was a hiss, and it sounded very localized, not the hiss one gets after a loud noise. He went to move his head, and though it was stiff, he didn't feel hurt, he very slowly sat up, kicking up his night-sight to full power, and flicked a glance around. Med Charlie, his unit's med bay, he recognized. Lots of memories for friends and family where rooted here, not unlike it's counterpart on Melinnia. Alex shuffled to his feet, looking around with a clueless blank expression on his face, walking slowly, ha tested his balance, and found that it was a tad off.

Alex considered doing the smart thing, and heading back to his bed, but that made too much common sense to be interesting. He resolved to find the source of the noise, now identified to be a shower running. He knew that there where showers here, just never remembered them being used. When he got to the hall toward the waiting area (still in a hospital gown like an idiot), he hanged a right, trying to remember if the showers where here somewhere.

Blackfire was tired, that was the sum of it. Drop. Dead. Tired. She fumbled for the controls to the shower, turning it off. She'd kept a near 24 hour watch at Alex's bedside, despite all pleadings for her to get some rest, she was just taking a shower to clean up her complexion, clear her head a little, so she could stay awake until the morning shit got there. When a knock on the door caused her to jump back and squeak, she said "Just a minute!" she said, pulling on her jumpsuit as quickly as she could.

The male at the other end of the door would've taken the initiative right there, but he knew that he could have been out for days, and the poor Tameranian woman was about to get enough surprise seeing him standing up. She did come out a moment later, stopping mid sentence, looking up into a pair of beautiful lights looking down at her. Blackfire was sure she looked like a mess "Oh, oh my God, your awake!" she cried, "What the hell are you doing out of bed!" she whisper-shouted, Alex know knew that the uncanny ability ran in the Tamerainian royal family blood. "I woke up-wanted to find-gah!" he gasped as she picked him up, carrying him back to his bunk, "I you get out of this bed before a doctor lets out, I'll have to break your legs, we clear?" Blackfire said, making him squirm.

"Yes ma'am… You're not going to leave me, are ya?" he asked, already knowing the answer to that, but not wanting to take her presence for granted.

"No, baby, I'm going anywhere till the morning shift gets here." she says, sitting in a chair, making Alex lower his eyes at his little possessive streak, "No, you need sleep, I'm just being a bit clingy, go on" he says, laying back.

"No" was all he got in response

Alex rubbed his head in frustration, wondering what Robin would do, he was good at this, and then it dawned on him. Robin would take the situation and turn it to his advantage. "I won't close my eyes until I sure you are asleep, Blackfire, if you wish your fiancée a good night's rest, you had best get over here and snuggle yourself to sleep" he said deadpan, inwardly shocked and proud of that bold speech.

"You're kidding, right?" his mate blinked, "Since when did you get bold, mister Phoenix"

"Since the moment you looked down on me in the dropship, I saw that you cared. I know you did before, don't get me wrong, but I guess it didn't register fully until is was all I left to cling to." he said slowly, "I'm glad I met you, and oddly, I'm kinda glad that it happened the way it did… Okay let me explain that."

A few months ago, she would'a beat him for it, but he'd surprised her enough now that she'd hear him out, "I'm listening.."

"That terrible thing, as bad as it was, pulled the real Blackfire out from whatever shell she'd put herself in, for whatever reason, if just for a fleeting glimpse for me to see. Boot camp _did_ do you some good, despite the grumbles, it broke that shell of yours off, leaving only the parts that made you a good person at heart, who always where, just you needed a push… What I wish didn't happen was-…. Everything after, but you have to take the bad with the good, sometimes." he said finally, looking down to her for some reaction.

It didn't come for a full minute, then she laughed, causing her hurt friend no end of confusion. "It's funny, the Irony, that is… that if they had not beaten me to a pulp, and brought me to my knees. Then likely you and I woulda had on hell of a fight…. And I'd of lost, no doubt in my mind… I owe those daffy bastards my life, in a twisted sort of way… Wow, what a mind job that is…"

"I like to think I'd have seen it, but I don't know" he said, "But enough banter, my bad, we where discussing sleeping arrangements?"

"Stow it, you-" She said, cut off by his finger pointing to the space next to him. "Uhhh… No way, I love you, but I don't go un-shy THAT quick, there we be people in-"

Alexander didn't move, though he had to fight like hell not to smirk.

"And what would I say, to the reason of the blatant protocol violation?" she said, exasperated

"You found I had no blanket, so you kept me warm," he said, noting to set the rib he'd surly dislodge trying to keep his bearings, he almost shuddered with the giggles, happy to be alive to jibe at Blackfire (and see the subsequent revenge), one of his personal favorite pastimes.

"You're _on_ it, Captain." she smirked, already getting onto the bed to stretch out next to him. She did, however, make him take her pillow for his head.

"Hush, you will ruin my evil plan, darling"

"God, help me… WHAT evil plan!" she said, rolling her eyes with her back to him. "I'm not sure I wanna be an accomplice to this."

Her bed mate grinned, reached to hug her close before whispering in her ear in a husky tone, one she was quite sure he couldn't do, she blinked in a dumbly surprised way, "I intend to take over the world… after using this place to engage in some more _traditional_ medicine. What better place to get in a little practice?"

Blackfire couldn't believe what she just heard. She should be pissed, but coming from him, right now, it sounded funny as hell, "And with out luck, you Dad 'n sisters 'd waltz in, and your mastermind ass would get a sorry deer-in-headlamp-look, all glow-y eyed, and stuff.." she snickers, half asleep

"Let a man dream, would ya…" he dozed out

"Not a chance, that could have real implications the ship don't need to see, though, on that little thought, you are free to dream in our stateroom" she teased.

He purred out, "Even the sexy ones?" getting nothing but a shift in her weight, though Blackfire grinned inwardly.

-ship Vanquish: 6 hours later

Beast Boy closed his eyes, taking in the fresh air on the ship's topmost, glass roofed deck, called, aptly, the City level, or just 'Downtown' by the crew. The life support system's main vents where located on this level, giving the whole space a pleasant breeze and fresh, if a bit odd, sent. The changeling blinked at the smell, an off mix of fresh flowers and a hospital operating room. Looking to the meditating Rae, he sighed, and wondered where the arcade was, a starship this size has to have an arcade, somewhere.

"What are you looking at?" Raven asked, already knowing the answer, but was just bored enough to humor him.

"You… You're kinda cute when you meditate, you kno-" he said, turning to run, and giggling like a madman. The empath followed in hot pursuit, and the two almost plowed into Robin and star on their way down the stairs.

"What the!" Robin said, flailing his arms in disbelief. Star tried to figure out what was going on, and darted after the others. Cy was no where in sight, probably talking the ear off of the techs manning the stations in a computer lab… The young male looked over his surroundings, wondering whether to go into the 'City' itself, and resolved to do so.

He walked down the sidewalk, watching silent taxis move by him. Robin wasn't much for pointless sightseeing, but with no word on Alex's condition, or Blackfire's whereabouts, he didn't have much else to do. The Boy wonder passed by shops catering to all sorts of races (one or two of which seemed to outnumber humans on the ship), tastes, and budgets. He found himself wandering into a martial arts looking shop out of curiosity.

"Welcome, can I help you?" a soft female voice called from behind the counter, making Robin and turn to look in her direction. The creature that spoke to him was, according to Alex's kin, the most common race on board, the tallish fox like lady blinked a few times, grinning, "New here, aren't ya?"

"Yeah…" he said, looking that the wide array of staves and swords on display, "Nice selection, some I recognize, but not most of them…"

"From all over the Legion, some are Terran weapons made from metals and enhancements from elsewhere. Some, well, some of them are totally foreign to you, as you can see… ask about anything you like." she said, obviously not minding the surprised stare she got a second ago.

"Thanks… " he said, looking around. After asking a few more questions, he left (having bought a rather nice looking knife/pick set combination she had at the counter, partly as repayment for being a bother.). Robin walked into a little out of the way gift shop next, not wanting to indulge himself without getting at least something for Starfire.

- meanwhile, Game Plaza,- City deck

"Come ON, guys! This will be a blast! Look!" BB pointed to a set of ten full-motion gaming stations. The guy at the counter boasted that these were srtipped down versions of real training equipment for LFC's fighter pilots. And, to top that off, this was the only arcade that had them onboard.

"No, I'm not going to sit in a big, spinning TV booth to play some dumb game" Raven's voice drulled out, "Not a chance."

"I'll go with ya, BB, that looks like it kicks ass!" Cy shouted, then looked to BB and pointed. The two males grabbed her, and dragged her to the counter. She'd thank them later, they where sure of it.

-Alex's private quarters, command deck

Alex smiled as he stepped out of his bathroom in his dress uniform, smiling to Blackfire as he walked in, though not sure how she got in. "Hey, did I leave my door open, or some-such?" he asked, honestly puzzled.

"No, your dad let me in." she said, flipping the channels on the remote, nothing on the V's local stations, in any of the many languages she knew, not not a thing on earth, either. She looked up amd smiled, "You look nice." she said, "I'll go change in a few, just content being lazy for the moment. " she said.

"You didn't hear any disagreement from me. When is the debriefing?" he said, a groan escaping him.

Blackfire said, "You okay, Alex?", quirking a brow, she'd never know him to complain about work, ever.

"I hate debriefings." he admitted, bowing his head a little, "Just keep that between us, kay?"

Blackfire giggled, "Sure, goanna cost you, though." The young woman got up, "I know you are aware of my opinion on those. No need to repeat myself" she noted, "I'm glad that I'm not called to speak on anything, but I'mma be there anyway."

"Thanks." Alex said, "I don't like having to make Robin wire most of his income to us, even if we went outside of official action. What I hate worse is that Dad didn't let me slice the numbers of enemy skill-users down any… Poor Titans aren't goanna have two nickels to rub together, let alone rebuild their home."

"Wait, you where goanna cut the number of skill users we killed down?" Blackfire said, clearly baffled, "That's 5k a head we get!" she snorted, not getting it.

"Titans are paying four times that for them, Blackie" Alex said, a little put off by her questioning him, she didn't know the details of the arrangement, so he didn't fault her, per se.

"Oh, dear god, how many confirmed kills?" she blinked, gravity of the implications setting in.

"7 of them, total." he said, lowering his head, "Plus 1.5 million in local currency for the starting fee… Command is also insisting that he pay a portion of the bills for me getting injured… I don't think he HAS that much."

"This is not going to be a nice debriefing… We don't finance." Blackfire said, "I whish I had a clue how to help."

"You've helped enough." he said, "Get changed, I'm off to go find them., walking out with a naturally straight stance. Blackfire whipped down 2 levels to her room to get dressed, and went to look for the others, as well.

-Briefing Room 5, Command Deck.

Starfire and the rest of the Titans, save Robin, sat nervously in the second row, almost a regiment of troops sat behind them. Star recognized many of them from the warehouse. One leaned forward a bit and asked, "Ma'am, did that little plan of yours work, get your sis her dream man?" he asked.

"Yes!" she giggled, "You didn't hear it from me, but they got engaged, too."

"That was worth taking the night shift them, I'll be sure to wish them luck." he grinned.

Star smiled back at the nice man who had offered to sit out the night patrol with some of his buddies, so that her sister didn't have to do it. A few hushed words spread around the ranks. And soon the whole battalion new about it. Star was oblivious to the disaster she was about to cause upon the ending of the meeting.

"Attention on Deck!" was shouted through the loud speakers, and the whole mass in the room snapped to (even BB, who looked more confused then anything, having been drug out his game.) The man with the microphone was wearing a black uniform, complete with boots and officers hat, the man wore a set of golden-hued rope at his left shoulder, wrapping twice under his arm, from that shoulder also sat a blue sash, crossing his chest to his opposite hip, just under a rack showing off various metals from more then 3 dozen campaigns. The Vice Admiral looked like a man who'd been on a battlefield his whole life, with a thousand mile stare. He spoke softly into the microphone.

"At ease…" he said, nodding to the group before looking over to his staff for a moment. "Good Evening, I am Vice Admiral Vanguard, of the LFC first fleet, I called this debriefing to gather as much information as I can about the preceding weeks, and to outline what we are going to do about the remaining Commonwealth forces refusing to surrender on your planet." His eyes met the CO of the forces from the warehouse first, with a nod, he added, "Before I go any further, I want to say I appreciate you and your men attending, despite the work that must be done land-side, I intend to let you all get back to doing what you do best as soon as I can."

Robin would yawn, had he not the sense to keep his jaw shut. This guy was goanna spend the next few hours talking, for sure. He glanced at Blackfire with a nod. She was not even in the briefing roster, what was she doing here? Robin watched as the admiral looked to Alex, "Captain, would you mind giving a report on the last few weeks?"

"Of course sir…" he looked over to a disk on the floor, "Projection, set to jump City overview." Robin watched as the holographic plate glowed, launching an image of Jump into the room, large enough to let everyone see. The Captian got out an old fashioned pointing stick, like a mid century teacher might use to point at a blackboard. Using it to point out the key points of the operation, the operative was able to give information in droves, enemy movement, camps, patrols, what was destroyed, what wasn't, where things where, and so forth.

"As I mentioned before, I knew the moment we HALO'd in that the fleet would be needed, had that ship still been in radio range, I might have risked having lt. Blackfire chase after it, to be honest" he noted finally.

"From what I see here, I can agree with that sentiment, Captain." said the Admiral, who happily had the most senior of the commanders go next, giving much the same report as his LFC counterpart.

BB had long since drifted of into a open eyed slumber of sorts, leaving Cy, start and Rae to watch the goings on with less then mild interest. Star looked to Rea with a pleading look, "I do find this most unpleasant, do you know when it will be over?" she asked the other woman, who gave a head shake in response, "When this windbag runs out of air." Raven said

Star stuck her face in her hands, having given up on leaving this place anytime soon. At least Alex was up and about now, and Blackfire was with him, also good. The redhead stared up at the ceiling for a moment, listening to the meeting. Eyes falling on her man in the front row. She sighed a little bit, knowing that Robin had to be stressed.

"Man, this is so boring, what's the point of going over all of this again and again" Cyborg said, clearly annoyed at having to sit though 2 hours of the same story over and over. Rae had an easier time, just blocking out the world as the debriefing progressed.

"Now, on to other matters." The admiral said, looking out over the room, "We have 3 cruisers on station to help with getting the enemy forces off of the surface. The Vanquish shall return to our home world to relay what has happened in this sector to high command. Unfortunately, this planet is at the extent of the range for all but a few of our ships, so it will be some time before our patrols can reach out this far… I cannot promise that they will not attack you again, as they have the Alpha Century system under their control, and that is the closest system we can get to without stopping.". The man leaned back on one foot slightly, and went quiet, "I hope we can retake it, and I will try my best to get command to clear me to send a strike force to that system, but I can make no promises."

The group of solders where let out, along with Blackfire and the Titans. B looked at the other, nodding a little before snapping a quick salute to Alex, as they where both in dress uniforms.

"At ease, Lieutenant." Alex said, "How is everyone holding up?"

"I'd not be out of line to say that this could've gone shorter, would I be?" Robin asked, "We've been though enough as it is."

"I agree, Though, on one positive note, my CO decided he's covering the trip out here, after seeing what happened to jump." Alex sighed, relieved that he wouldn't have to see Robin shell out that kind of money, or make Star put Tammeran on thin ice for it either. "But the meeting's about over, must my CO and the rest of brass talking politics now…"

"So, I guess it's over, as far as you guys are involved?" Robin asked, tilting his head slightly.

"For the most part, yeah." Alex replied, "Already have tasking orders, heading homeward for a little R&R first, though."

Blackfire didn't look to happy at the news, making Alex note to at least get her some much needed family time, at least. Starfire and Rea glanced at the violet-haired woman's direction for a moment.

"I hope we get to hang out sometime soon, you guys, y'all are cool." BB said, a little bummed out. He rubbed his side reflexively, even though he barely hurt since the medics in the Vanquish patched him up a bit. Rea nodded in agreement

"Yeah, Glad you two came, both of you." Cyborg said, patting Blackfire's shoulder. The half robot hade made a note to look around the place for some upgrades, and had to comment "Might have to stop by your house, get a load of some of the local tech, though".

Both Alex and Blackfire laughed at that, "We'd have to put a leash on you, like a kid in a candy store, hehe" They pointed down the corridor to the airlift, "Sorry to leave on short notice, we won't be going far, so…"

The Titans knew from experience that prying would be no good, so they all smiled at once, "Do you have time for lunch before you leave?" Star asked, "Travling on an empty somach is not good."

"Yeah, we can get a bite to eat, sure" Blackfire said, beating Alex to it, who just nodded in agreement, before saying, "It will be a few hours before my ship arrives, anyway… where do yall want to go?"

The group had quite unanimously decided on Pizza (to the surprise of the Titans, this ship had most of the food choices one might find on earth), and sat to eat a leisurely meal on the top level of the establishment. Alex had orderd three on them, dusting off the first one on his own as he chatted away, answering the occasional questions, and giggling out a funny story, as repayment for Blackfire's little tale about him.

"Right, so, where was I, yes… Now, in the legion, we get our tech from all over the known universe, and several other ones, as well… Star, remember asking what a Jumper was?" he asked, already giggled, Blackfire didn't help when she put her face in her hands, "Why this one?"

"Yes, Did my Sister get stuck in this vessel, as well?" Star said, making Robin snort, and Beast Boy lose it right there, as he'd heard that story a few times by now.

"Nah, she got the *ship* stuck…. See, think of a box, kinda longish, stick a cockpit on the front, and bolt on two or four engines on the sides, knda near the aft of the main fuselage. You end up with a kind of 'Y' shape.. Well, when she was just learning to fly, Dad told me to have her learn in a jumper… Wrong move, utter fail in decision making. These critters are not meant to be driven manually, they don't have *a* joystick, they have three…"

"This is so humiliating…" B moaned.

"… It comes time to pull out of the hanger, and B dose great starting it up, all ten minutes that it takes, and takes off. Lets the collective lever a little, ship rises about five feet, gear go up, perfect… Now, here is where she gets a little turned around, the rudder petals turn you around like a top, what she needed to do to get out. She turns the main yoke instead. And even though she stopped, it still touched one of the engines on the hanger floor. In her credit, I've done it once or twice, just not what happens next… Well, she freaks out, and _yanks_ on the collective, whole ship kinda pivots on the engine lying on the deck, wedging itself against the ceiling with the other one… She looks at me, the controls, then me again, and says, 'What just happened?' as if we where talking about a light bulb, or something.." Alex says

Blackfire had her face in her hands, and looked a might embarrassed, though she let out a little giggle, knowing what was coming next.

The Titans had mildly amused expressions, this wasn't that funny, but it was worth listening to.

"Dad comes out, and looses it, gets all red faced, yellin, and whatever. So I point over to the little shuttle sitting in the far corner, 'I learned on that just fine, I told you she'd get confused, I get confused on that thing, too!" I say… I mean, It's not in there bad, had I let 'er, B 'ed probably gotten it unstuck fine, but noooo. My dad crawls in, starts yanking and yelling, ship is wigglin, getting a little more wedged in… Me and B are just watching this in silence. Dad gets out, pissed, and storms off, probably to call maintenance, or something. B goes and tells me to get in, and get ready to stop it from crashing on the floor, so I do… She just gives it a little push, and with a little creaking and popping, it falls over again. I land it, shut if off, Get out and go back to where B had touched down, just in time for Dad to get back…"

Robin snickered, imaging the confused look on the man's face, "Shocked was he?"

"Ohm yeah, 'I want-… uh, Carry on…' he says, then he threw his phone at the ship, and yelled, 'I give up, why dose it end up unstuck AFTER I call!" and stomps off" Blackfire said, "He won't let me fly a ship of his again, even though we got over that a long time ago. He is kinda funny when he's mad."

Alex nodded to that, "Yeah he is, anyway, we'd had a few laughs over the years, that's for sure" He got up and stretched, "Alright, Time for us to get heading out, Im afraid, We might be stopping by tamaran in a few weeks, meet us there if you wish." he said

Blackfire got up as well, and took a moment to give her sister a hug before sending hugs all around.

"Will walk with ya." Robin said, waving his hand for the other titans to follow. All where silent on the way to the hangers under the ship. And Robin couldn't think of anything good to say to break the silence.

Blackfire floated close to her sister, head held a little low. Her normally upbeat personality was very subdued. Star leaned in and gave her a hug, saying something in hushed Tameraninan that Alex's tourist's understanding of that language could not decipher…

"Attention, Jumper 627 inbound, all personnel bound for Mellinia, report to the loading ramp. Repeat: personnel bound for Mellinia, report to the loading ramp." a voice called over the loud speakers in the hallway leading to one of the hangers. The two LFC solders in the group split off, waving as they headed toward an ugly ship in the far area of the hanger. The Titans headed over to the nearest schedule, looking for the next dropship to the surface.

"Don't bother looking at that, where ya headed" a familiar voice asked.

Robin turned to find the Vice Admiral looking at him with an almost casual glance. "Jump city, sir, we can take the regular flight, once we see what lands close…"

"Nonsense, I had a transport take the rest of the solders down, I owe you the same courtesy, at least… Corporal, get one of the Skill-Unit boys over here, Captain Alex's friends need a ride, looks like his flight caught him early." The man said, watching the corporal get on the phone immediately. Not five minutes later, the pilot that flew Robin and star for a tour came wandering in, "Guys need a ride, Huh? Not a problem!"

"Thanks." Robin said, not really sure what to say, "Will be sure to pass a good word on to our people, this was our planet's first major encounter, they need to know that not everyone out there is bad." he said to the admiral, who nodded, stepping back, as he turned, Robin piped up, "Sir? One quick question, how to you visit your homeworld? Alex and Blackfire talked about it a lot."

"Get a ship with enough range, then contact the tower on the public band." he said, "Just make sure to bring pens, lots of paperwork." said the man, grinning as he walked off.

"Lets go home, guys." Robin said, "We've got lots of work to do."

-jumper Stellar Flash, 0330 ship time

The small quarters of the Inter-Dimensional "Jumper" ship weren't really much to look at. Sliding door, one twin size bed, little monitor on the wall, and no bathroom. Blackfire hated these ships, they where loud, ungainly beasts who's only good point was the exotic tech that they could deliver back to the Legion. She looked over to Alex, who glanced back with a small smile, but nothing more. He reached out a hand, offering to hold her. B slid over next to him and leaned in. The two closed their eyes, wondering what to do next, any real mood killed by leaving behind new friends and the awful ride of the ship they currently traveling on.

"Honey, when can we get a ship of our own, so we don't have to loose our hearing on the way back home?" Blackfire asked, looking at the wall in a few feet in front of her, "This ship is older then me and you together, times about ten." she said, rueing it.

"Not soon enough, I tell you…" Alex said, thinking about that for a moment, "Now that you mention it. Dad knows of a few old ships in the starport that belong to the house, maybe I can snag one."

"Please do.. As long as it's got the range to get to Tameran, I'll be a happy girl… Wait, what ships?"

"Oh, just a few freighters, and a medium cruiser." he said, grinning from ear to ear, "I want the cruiser."

"If you get that ship, I'll be shocked…" Blackfire snorted, "That 's your Dad's ship, Ain't it? Not that he's ever flown it, to my knowledge, dose it fly, even?"

"Yeah, it dose, and he used to, when I was little. He just don't need to travel much, anymore, now that he serves in Logistics." Alex noted, "And that thing is fun to fly, but don't have the range to get to Tameran without a pit stop, first."

"Hmmmm…" Blackfire sighed, and closed her eyes. "I say steal it and elope, if nothing else."

"Blackfire!… " Alex said with a chuckle. "I like that idea… but no…."

"Well…" Blackfire said with a shurg.

The rest of the trip was uneventful, to say the least. Upon landing, the two mad there way back home, happy to finally catch up with Alex's sisters and father.

"Heya, kids, what'd I miss?" Steve asked.

"Not much." Blackfire said, "Trip was boring, loud, and long."

"Well, at least you two get to relax, huh?"

"Yeah, you can say that again, dad… Anything going on here?" Alex asked, tilting his head.

"Nope, I left the little surprise ya'll have the family up to you to let out. I do want to be there, though" he said, "Not that anyone will be surprised."

"Heh, yeah, lets call a meeting, I wanna tell um." Alex said, with a big smile on his face, Blackfire didn't look to thrilled to say the least.

"I do hope you are considering me when you say that, love, you know most of them would rather me not be around since they found out I was a fugitive for most of my life" Blackfire said pointedly. "I don't want to get screamed at again."

"I'll keep them in line, Blackfire, I promise. Hell, better to get it out of the way." Alex said, smiling some.

The three went into the large building that dominated the Phoenix residence. After grabbing a bite to eat out of the kitchen. Alex's father told Alex to gather the family in the meeting hall while he had a few moments with his daughter to be.

"You okay? With this, I mean… I don't want you rushed." Steve said, obviously worried about her.

"No, I'm serious about it… At first, spending my life with Alex wasn't something I'd have considered, but he's a good man… Bit aggravating at times, but good. Hell, I have trouble saying this, but I love him…"

"I know." Steve says, "He knows, too… Why he has no problem dealing with the more picky of our family."

"I thought he liked doing that before?" Blackfire asked.

"Yes, but now he has a good reason to."

Alex came back out, "Lets go give the big news, everyone's downstairs" he said, nodding a little. Blackfire pulled alongside, looking to him with narrowing eyes, "I hope you know what you are doing."

"I do, trust me." he said.

The three got to the meeting hall, to tilted heads, "What is the meaning of this?" one of the elders asked, clearly suspicious of the whole thing. "This had better be good."

Steve grinned from obvious pride, holding his hand to usher forward the two betrothed. He stood back watching the unfolding scene with a deep gaze.

"I have an announcement…" Alex said in a clear voice, wrapping an arm around Blackfire's shoulders, stopping for a just a moment. Before she could wonder about it though, he said, "Me and Blackfire are engaged."

A few smiles persisted, but mostly shock, "What! This is the last straw, Alexander. She's a criminal!" That same elder said. Alex didn't know most of his 'extended' family, as they rarely dealt with each other. Truth be told, he could have married her, and had a kid or two before anyone would notice. Alex, however, didn't like to hide this sort of thing.

"She _was_, not _is_! She ain't bothered any of you, that bastard and his kid notwithstanding. Quite frankly, I don't give a flying fuck what you think, I just told you so you can't banish me for keeping it a secrete." he said, crossing his arms. The man stepped forward, "Just remember that if you all want to start complaining about our family name, she doesn't even have a damn record here, cept for one count of stowing, whoop de do… That's it! And she's made up for that giving us a good name on the battlefield, regardless… Like I said, I've told you this out of courtesy, I will do what my heart feel's is right with or without your blessings."

Blackfire looked over to Alex, then the crowd of uptight Phoenix members in front of them. Her father in law stayed silent, looking over the same group with a tiny smirk.

"Enough! Do what you wish, but you can't give her you surname without our consent, without that, you can't legally wed anyway." other elder said.

Alex narrowed his eyes. "I sure can, just get married on her world, or Earth." he said back. "The papers will stick here, just fine… and I don't need her to have my last name to be my wife, you know?" he said, leaning into B a little. "Like I said, this is just a courtesy as far as I'm-"

The elders stood up to protest, stepping into the aisle. Houses like these where political beasts, Blackfire observed. She noted that no one cared until it got noticed she was from Tameran, and had royal blood. B knew enough to know that Tameran was a world just starting to get into alliance with the Legion, as it maintained a line of contact. She could only guess at their motives, but she figured that they didn't want Phoenix harmed by some traitor married into the family. She had an idea, "Gentlemen, you do realize that I'm of royal blood, first in line over my sister, by birth, though she hold that right due to winning in duel over me. If your worried about my crimes on that part of the universe causing you trouble, they won't. As far as I am aware, my sister cleared me of any wrongdoing when I helped save Earth. I could go for the throne, but frankly, she's a better people person then me."

"Just because you are clear of wrongdoing, child, doesn't mean that you didn't do it." one of the now four elders standing there said.

"No shit, you think I don't know that!" Blackfire hissed, "I've got to live with that the rest of my life as it is, don't make it worse by slapping a label on me and assuming the rest!"

The elders looked at her and Alex with disdain, one looked them, "We won't allow it… Steven, where is your sense?"

Steven looked over to the man with his arms crossed, "I like her, to tell the truth, and it's their lives, who the hell am I to say anything?"

The one elder looked daggers at Steve, then to his offspring with even more distaste, "I won't approve it, how ever you get around the legal part, I'd hate for your life here to be unpleasant."

"If it comes down to a choice between you and her, I'm sorry Blackfire… We have to move." Alex said, crossing his arms.

"So be it, you have twenty four hours, Alexander." They said, and stomped off.

Steven looked unsurprised, looking over to the two kids with softer eyes, "I hate to say that I can't get you out of this, you two… where are you goanna go?"

"Alex, I…" Blackfire said, and leaned in, she hated the lot of them, but still, Alex was getting kicked out of his house, "I didn't want this to happen."

"Neither did I, but I won't have them tell me who I can and can't love." Alex said, holding Blackfire as the last of the Phoenix family pile out, some wished him good luck, and a select few congratulations. After a few minutes, Alex looked over to to his father, now sitting in the front row of the hall, "Dad… Uh, there is one way that you might be able to help…"

"Oh?" the man says, narrowing his eyes a bit, and tilting his head, "How… Dare I ask?"

"Can I have the ship?" Alex said, reminding Blackfire of a teen asking for a car, or something.

"The ship?" Steven said, blinking with that you've-got-to-be-kidding-me stare, "You want my ship? _My _ship!"

"Just to barrow I until we get a new house set up somewhere." Alex said, trying to sound reasonable.

"If you want it." Steven said, "It's yours, on one condition."

"Yes, sir?" Alex said, looking over to Blackfire, who just blinked.

"You make sure to stop by once and awhile, ok?" the man said, looking a bit sad.

"Of course." Alex and B said in unison, "Mellina's where I stomp, my whole family is here… This'll blow over soon anyway." Alex said.

"I'll let the movers know where to take your stuff." Steven said simply, "Get packing."

Alex and Blackfire had their rooms packed by the time the sun was rising invisibly over the horizon…


End file.
